ife  and  Works 

Of 

Mrs.  Barbauld. 


FROM   THE  LIBRARY   OF 
REV.   LOUIS    FITZGERALD    BENSON,  D.  D. 


BEQUEATHED   BY   HIM   TO 

THE   LIBRARY  OF 

PRINCETON  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


/VS&f 


MEMOIR,  LETTERS, 


A  SELECTION  FROM  THE  POEMS  AND  PROSE   WRITINGS 


ANNA  LJETITIA  BARBAULD. 


VOLUME    I. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2012  with  funding  from 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


http://archive.org/details/mrsbarbauldOOoliv 


Mffir 


&*fcrS&~^zJb- 


OCT  15  1931 


MEMOIR 


OF 


MRS.  AMA  LETITIA  BARBAULD, 


WITH  MANY  OF  HER   LETTERS. 


BY 


GRACE    A.   ELLIS. 


To  strew  fresh  laurels,  let  the  task  be  mine.' 


TlCKELL. 


BOSTON": 
JAMES   R.    OSGOOD    AND    COMPANY, 

Late  Ticknor  &  Fields,  and  Fields,  Osgood,  &  Co. 

1874. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1874, 

BY     GRACE    A.    ELLIS, 

in  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


University  Press  :  Welch,  Bigelow,  &  Co., 
Cambridge. 


TO 

MY  MOTHER 

I  DEDICATE    THESE    VOLUMES, 

INSCRIBING 

THIS    IMPERFECT,    BUT    NOT    UNFAITHFUL   WORK, 
WHICH  I  HOPE  MAT  PERPETUATE 

Z\)t  fHcmorg 

OF  A  VIRTUOUS  AND  TALENTED  WOMAN,  AND  AWAKEN  NEW  INTEREST 
IN  HER  LD7E  AND  WRITINGS, 

TO     ONE 
WHO  HAS  EVER  BEEN  TO  ME 

A  FRIEND,   A    GUIDE,   AND    AN    INSPIRATION, 

WITH  THE  WARMEST  FEELINGS  OF  AFFECTIONATE 


PREFACE. 


THE  writing  and  reading  of  biographies  of  very  varied 
lives  and  different  characters  have  long  been  the  occu- 
pation of  the  ablest  writers,  and  given  pleasure  and  profit  to 
many  students  of  the  thoughts,  manners,  and  personal  and 
mental  peculiarities  of  the  good  and  great.  All  the  eininent 
men  and  women  who  have  lived  and  labored  in  this  busy 
world,  and  left  enduring  records  of  themselves  in  works 
which  follow  them,  deserve  from  some  impartial  hand  a 
recognition  of  their  career,  —  a  just  estimate  of  their  position 
in  their  chosen  walk  of  life.  Though  memory  may  embalm 
their  names  for  centuries  in  the  hearts  and  minds  of  many 
generations,  it  cannot  do  more  than  leave  vague  and  un- 
certain fancies  as  years  roll  on,  if  no  extended  sketches  of 
their  lives  and  works  are  given  to  the  world. 

Some  of  the  very  greatest  geniuses  the  world  ever  knew 
have  suffered  from  this  neglect,  and  we  have  only  the  merest 
shadows  of  men  and  women  given  us  where  we  should  eagerly 
study  a  life-size  mental  portrait.  Dr.  Johnson  says  that  only 
those  who  have  lived  with  a  man  or  woman  should  attempt 
to  portray  their  lives,  as  they  alone  are  properly  qualified  to 
depict  the  true  character  and  draw  well  the  lights  and  shades 


Ylll  PREFACE. 

of  it.  Though  this  real  or  fancied  advantage  which  Dr. 
Johnson  considered  an  absolute  necessity,  as  a  condition  of 
success,  is  not  mine,  I  have  ventured  to  give  the  world  a 
sketch  of  Mrs.  Barbauld's  life  in  a  more  extended  and  par- 
ticular form  than  has  yet  been  attempted ;  and  if  not  found 
personal  enough  in  its  character,  the  reader  must  bear  in 
mind  that  the  "  inaudible  and  noiseless  foot  of  Time "  has 
recorded  almost  half  a  century  since  her  death. 

With  the  encouragement  and  advice  of  my  father-in-law, 
George  E.  Ellis,  D.  D.,  I  undertook  this  Memoir  of  Mrs. 
Barbauld,  with  the  care  of  preparing  and  editing  a  Selection 
from  her  Poems  and  Prose  Works.  In  so  doing  I  have  re- 
ceived from  him  valued  assistance  in  the  revision  of  my 
manuscripts.  To  my  father,  James  L.  Little,  Esq.,  I  may 
here  acknowledge  my  indebtedness  for  the  interest  he  has 
manifested  in  my  work  throughout  the  time  I  have  devoted 
myself  to  it.  In  the  use  of  books  beyond  my  own  library 
I  have  been  greatly  aided  by  the  friendly  care  and  attention 
of  Justin  Winsor,  Esq.,  the  able  Superintendent  of  the 
Public  Library,  who  in  every  way  facilitated  my  object. 
To  Mr.  Hunter,  of  the  Williams  Library  in  London,  I  also 
feel  indebted  for  the  attention  shown  me  by  him  while  there. 
And  I  must  here  thank  Mr.  James  T.  Fields  for  the  friendly 
thoughts  which  have  manifested  themselves  in  various  ways 
during  my  preparation  of  this  work. 

I  wish  to  call  attention  to  the  engraving  which  Mr.  W.  H. 
Eorbes  has  had  made  for  me  j  and,  when  finished  in  the 
beautiful  and  perfect  style  in  which  the  reader  sees  it,  he 


PREFACE.  IX 

insisted  on  my  acceptance  of  it  as  his  contribution  towards 
the  book,  desiring  that  I  should  not  mention  it ;  but  this  I 
could  not  consent  to  do,  and  must  here  thank  him  for  the 
great  addition  to  the  value  of  the  Life  which  this  admirable 
portrait  gives. 

In  alluding  to  those  whose  kindness  I  have  experienced,  I 
do  not  forget  those  whom  I  may  not  name,  and  would  here 
express  my  obligations  to  those  of  my  family  and  friends 
who  have  aided  in  my  little  work  and  lightened  my  labors. 
One  of  my  friends  thoughtfully  undertook  and  completed 
the  larger  part  of  the  copying  of  the  poems. 

The  nineteenth  century  has  done  so  much  admirable 
and  laborious  work  in  reviving,  rescuing  from  oblivion, 
and  bringing  out  of  their  seclusion  old  books  and  authors, 
that  one  feels  no  apology  is  needed  for  reprinting  a  portion 
of  the  writings  of  an  author  once  so  widely  known  by  her 
works,  and  still  highly  respected  for  her  moral  and  mental 
qualities,  as  Mrs.  Barbauld.  Her  name  is  among  those  of 
the  worthies  of  England  that  still  live  in  the  hearts  of  the 
people,  and  it  is  as  "  familiar  as  household  words  "  in  many 
homes,  while  her  prose  works,  and  much  of  her  poetry,  are 
almost  unknown  to  many  readers  and  quite  out  of  print. 

The  "  Prose  Hymns  "  for  children  and  " Early  Lessons"  are 
still  used,  and  of  these  two  little  books  there  have  been  many 
editions  ;  I  have  before  me  two  editions  of  the  "  Prose  Hyinns" 
which  present  the  extremes  of  elegance  and  simplicity.  The 
first  is  the  beautiful  edition  of  the  Hymns  printed  and  illus- 
trated in  the  most  perfect  manner,  and  issued  by  John  Mur- 


X  PREFACE. 

ray  in  1865.  The  second  is  probably  the  cheapest  ever 
printed,  being  published  by  the  Sunday  School  Association 
at  the  astonishingly  small  sum  of  threepence. 

Mrs.  Barbauld's  name  cannot  be  forgotten  while  large 
numbers  of  these  little  books  are  sold  and  read  by  young 
children,  and  her  beautiful  verses  form  a  considerable  part 
of  our  hymn-books,  and  are  justly  admired  for  the  true 
devotion  and  elegance  of  style  which  they  display ;  but  one 
has  no  just  idea  of  the  varied  and  extensive  powers  of  Mrs. 
Barbauld,  and  no  thorough  study  can  be  made  of  her  works 
and  genius,  without  a  collection  of  her  writings.  In  forming 
this  Selection  I  have  endeavored  to  give  the  public  the  best 
of  her  writings,  and  as  a  rule  have  made  use  only  of  pieces 
of  general  interest,  omitting  the  greater  part  of  the  poems 
written  for  particular  occasions,  and  have  not  used  any  of 
her  political  pamphlets,  fine  as  they  are,  or  her  sermons, 
which  appeared  after  her  death  in  the  "Christian  Eeformer." 
The  pamphlets  are  powerful  .productions,  but  the  present 
interest  in  them  would  not  justify  their  reprint  j  and  the  ser- 
mons are  not  suited  to  the  plan  and  scope  of  this  Selection,  as 
they  are  of  a  purely  religious  and  didactic  style,  and  hardly 
interesting  to  the  general  reader. 

I  have  placed  among  her  poems  several  which  are  not  to 
be  found  in  Miss  Aikin's  collection.  These  I  have  taken 
from  Dr.  Aikin's  "Collection  of  Songs,"  and  as  they  are  in  no 
way  inferior  to  her  other  poems,  I  insert  them  in  the  Poems. 
What  the  good  taste  of  Dr.  Aikin  selected  for  his  excellent 
book  of  songs  should  not  be  rejected.     Ritson  has  placed 


PREFACE.  XI 

some  of  them  in  his  "  Collection  of  English  Songs,"  giving 
them  an  honorable  mention. 

I  have  placed  among  the  Miscellaneous  Pieces  two  Essays, 
one  on  "Prejudice,"  the  other  on  "Education";  these  first 
appeared  in  the  "Monthly  Magazine,"  and  were  much  ad- 
mired at  the  time.  "  The  Misses,"  which  I  think  is  not 
known  to  many  readers,  was  printed  after  Mrs.  Barbauld's 
death  in  the  juvenile  "Forget-me-not"  of  1830,  a  charming 
annual  for  children,  edited  by  Mrs.  S.  C.  Hall.  This  little 
allegory  is  the  first  piece  in  the  "  Forget-me-not,"  and  is  well 
entitled  to  a  place  of  honor,  even  among  the  distinguished 
names  which  we  find  in  the  list  of  contributors. 

It  only  remains  for  me  to  say  that,  though  I  feel  assured 
there  are  many  persons  better  qualified  by  years  and  ex- 
perience to  have  written  the  "  Life  of  Mrs.  Barbauld,"  yet  it 
has  not  been  done,  and  this  must  be  my  excuse  for  assuming 
the  responsibility  of  it.  I  believe  it  to  be  an  honest  piece 
of  work,  and  I  hope  that  care  and  fidelity  may  atone  for  the 
lack  of  brilliancy  and  exciting  incidents  in  the  records  of 
a  quiet  life.  As  the  worthy  and  quaint  old  Izaak  Walton 
says,  in  speaking  of  his  assuming  the  care  of  writing  the 
"Life  of  George  Herbert":  —  "  For  these  reasons  I  have 
undertaken  it,  and  if  I  have  prevented  any  abler  person,  I 
beg  pardon  of  him  and  my  reader." 

GRACE  ATKINSON  ELLIS. 

2  Commonwealth  Avenue,  Boston, 
January,  1874. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER    I. 

Page 
Introduction.  —  Birth    and  Parentage.  —  Position    of    Dissenters.  — 
Early  Life.  —  Education.  —  Friends  -and  Companions.  —  Classical 
Studies.  —  Love  of  Nature.  —  Poetical  Taste  and  Imagination    .    1-17 


CHAPTER    II. 

Removal  to  "Warrington.  —  Friends  made  there.  —  Mode  of  Life  at  the 
Academy.  —  Tutors  and  Scholars.  —  State  of  Learning  in  England 
at  the  Universities.  —  Address  to  Mrs.  Priestley.  —  Visits  Dr.  and 
Mrs.  Priestley  at  Leeds.  —  Poems  written  there.  —  Visits  Mr. 
Turner  at  Wakefield 18- 


CHAPTER    III. 

Letters  to  Family  and  Friends.  —  John  Aikin,  M.  D.  —  His  Return  to 
Warrington.  —  His  Literary  Productions.  —  Prepares  his  Sister's 
Poems  for  Publication.  —  Poems  printed  in  1773.  —  Address  to  the 
Corsicans.  —  Miscellaneous  Pieces  collected  and  published  in  1773. 
—  Remarks  of  Fox.  — Criticism  of  Dr.  Johnson  on  the  Imitation  of 
his  Style. — Essay  in  the  "Christian  Reformer"        .        .        .39-53 


CHAPTER    IV. 

Marriage.  —  Mr.  Barbauld's  Parentage  and  Family.  —  Reply  to  Mrs. 
Montague  and  Others.  —  Mr.  Barbauld  settles  at  Palgrave.  —  They 
open  a  School  in  that  Town. — Success  of  the  Enterprise.  —  Mrs. 
Barbauld's  Method  of  Instruction.  —  Dr.  Sayers's  Remembrance  of 
the  Lessons  given  by  her.  —  William  Taylor  of  Norwich,  one  of  the 


XIV  CONTEXTS. 

Scholars.  — Letters  to  her  Brother,  with  Account  of  the  School,  aud 
her  Interest  in  the  Lessons  and  Anmsements  of  the  Boys    .       .     54-69 


CHAPTER  V. 

Mrs.  Barbauld's  Letters. — Dr.  Johnson's  Description  of  her.  — Pub- 
lishes "Thoughts  on  the  Devotional  Taste."  —  London  Society  at 
that  Period.  —  The  Eminent  Men  and  Women  of  the  Time.  —  The 
Blue-Stocking  Club.  —  Miss  More's  "  Bas  Bleu."  —  Miss  More  meets 
Mrs.  Barbauld.  —  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Barbauld  offer  to  adopt  one  of  Dr. 
Allan's  Children.  — The  Offer  accepted.  —  "Early  Lessons"  written 
by  Mrs.  Barbauld  for  his  Use.  —  Letters  to  Miss  Dixon    .        .     70-95 


CHAPTER    VI. 

Mrs.  Barbaidd  takes  Charge  of  some  Young  Scholars. — Writes  the 
"  Prose  Hymns."  —  Her  Aim  in  writing  them.  — Visits  London.  — 
Letters  to  Dr.  Aikin.  —  Visits  Norwich.  —  Peculiarities  of  the  old 
Town. — Letters  to  Miss  More.  —  Miss  More's  Poem  on  "Sensi- 
bility."—  Address  to  Mrs.  Barbauld.  — Dr.  Aikin  removes  to  Yar- 
mouth. —  Visit  to  London  in  the  Christmas  Holidays.  —  Mlets 
many  Friends  there.  —  Joseph  Johnson,  her  Publisher.  —  Miss 
Burney.  —  Letters 96-120 


CHAPTER    VII. 

Mr.  aud  Mrs.  Barbauld  relinquish  their  School.  —  They  make  a  Con- 
tinental Journey.  —  Letters  written  to  the  Family  and  Friends  on 
this  Journey.  —  Persons  whose  Acquaintance  they  make.  —  They 
meet  John  Howard.  —  Magnetism.  —  Manners  and  Customs.  — 
Mode  of  Travelling 121-164 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

The  Barbaulds  return  to  England.  —  They  reside  in  London  for  a  few 
Months.  — Social  Life  there.  — Removal  to  Hampstead.  — Hampstead 
and  its  Inhabitants.  —  Mrs.  Barbauld  writes  "Address  to  the  Op- 
posers  of  the  Repeal  of  the  Corporation  and  Test  Acts."  —  Cause  of 
the  Act  and  Occasion  for  the  Repeal.  —  Final  Success  of  the  Advo- 
cates of  the  Measures 165  - 187 


CONTEXTS.  *  XV 


CHAPTER    IX. 

Mrs.  Barbauld's  M  Poetical  Epistle  "  to  William  Wilberforce.  —  Hor- 
ace Walpole's  Remarks  on  Mrs.  Barbauld. — Letters.  —  Dr.  John- 
son's Character  —  Mrs.  Barbauld's  "Reply"  to  Mr.  "Wakefield's 
Pamphlet  on  Worship.  —  She  visits  Scotland.  —  Various  Impressions 
of  the  Highlands.  —  Mrs.  Barbaidd  writes  Essays  on  Akenside's 
''Pleasures  of  the  Imagination,"  and  on  Collins's  Odes. — Meets 
General  Paoli.  —  Letters 188-211 


CHAPTER    X. 

The  Barbaulds  visit  Bristol.  —  They  meet  Dr.  Beddoes. — His  Char- 
acter.—  They  visit  Dorking.  —  Call  on  Madame  D'Arhlay. — Her 
Account  of  the  Visit,  and  Impression  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Barbauld.  — 
Mr.  Rogers's  Anecdote  of  a  Poem  of  Mrs.  Barbauld.  —  Letter  from 
Mrs.  Barbauld  to  Miss  More.  —  She  forms  a  Friendship  -with  the 
E  "j? worths. —  Miss  Elgeworth's  Account  of  it.  —  Mrs.  Edge- 
worth's  Description  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Barbauld.  — Sugar  not  used  by 
the  Opponents  of  the  Slave-Trade.  —  Character  of  Dr.  Priestley  by 
Mrs.  Barbauld.  —  Address  to  him  by  her.  —  Joanna  Baillie.  —  Her 
Tragedies.  —  Dr.  Aikin's  Description  of  his  Visit  to  Kibworth    212  -  236 

CHAPTER    XI. 

Removal  of  the  Barbaulds  to  Stoke  Xewington. —  Cause  of  it. — 
Lines  to  Mrs.  Barbauld  by  Dr.  Aikin.  —  History  of  the  Chapel.  — 
Letters.  —  The  Annual  Review.  —  Mrs.  Barbauld  edits  with  E 
a  "Selection."  —  Miss  Aikin's  Opinion  about  this  Essay.  —  Diary 
of  Mr.  Robinson,  and  his  Introduction  to  Mrs.  Barbauld.  —  Words- 
worth's Admiration  of  "Life."  —  His  Remarks  about  Mrs.  Bar- 
bauld. —  Sir  Henry  Holland's  Recollections  of  Xewington  Society 
and  Mrs.  Barbauld.  —  She  writes  the  "Life  of  Richardson."  — 
Anecdotes  about  it.  —  Miss  Aikin's  Letters.  —  Anecdotes.  —  Mr. 
Barbauld's  Death.  —  His  Character,  by  Mrs.  Barbauld    .        .237-264 

CHAPTER    XII. 

Mrs.  Barbauld  edits  "  British  Xovelists  "  —  Prepares  a  "Selection" 
for  the  Young,  called  "The  Enfield  Speaker."  —  Publishes  Poem 
"Eighteen   Hundred  and  Eleven."  —  Criticisms  on  this  Poem. — 


XVI  CONTENTS. 

Style  of  it. —  Mr.  Robinson's  Diary. — Letters. — Social  Activity 
of  Mrs.  Barbauld.  —  She  meets  Scott  at  Dinner.  —  Mrs.  Farrar's 
Recollections. — Mrs.  Barbauld  and  Byron's  Poem.  —  Miss  Edge- 
worth's  Visit.  —  Mr.  Robinson's  Picture  of  Mrs  Barbauld.  —  Dr. 
Channing  visits  her.  —  Old  Age  and  its  Trials.  —  Loss  of  her  old 
Friends.  —  Death  of  Dr.  Aikin.  —  Mrs.  Barbauld's  cheerfulness  and 
Patience.  —  Illness  and  Death.  —  Miss  Aikin's  Estimate  of  her  Char- 
acter. —  Miss  Edgeworth's  Remarks.  —  Tablet  to  Mrs.  Barbauld's 
Memory.  —  Anecdotes.  —  Mrs.  Barbauld's  Poetry.  —  Her  Prose 
Works.  —  Her  Position  in  English  Literature.  —  Her  Character.  — 
Her  Influence.  —  Her  Personal  Appearance.  —  The  Justice  of  the 
Claims  to  Respect  and  Veneration  her  Life  inspires      .         .      265  -  i 


Life  of  Mrs.  Barbauld. 


CHAPTEE    I. 

Introduction.  —  Birth  and  Parentage.  —  Position  of  Dissenters. — 
Early  Life.  —  Education.  —  Friends  and  Companions.  —  Classi- 
cal Studies.  —  Love  of  Nature.  —  Poetical  Taste  and  Imagina- 
tion. 

IN  offering  this  biography  to  the  public,  I  feel  the 
difficulty  of  my  self-imposed  task,  which  has  be- 
come, with  the  performance  of  it,  a  pleasure.  I  hope 
that  the  purpose  to  place  before  the  present  gen- 
eration the  character  and  the  just  claims  to  veneration 
and  respect  which  the  life  of  Mrs.  Barbauld  must  in- 
spire, may  not  be  wholly  unsuccessful ;  that  her  noble 
qualities  of  mind  and  heart,  her  high  culture  and  poetic 
genius,  her  pure  and  simple  course  of  life,  may  impress 
themselves  upon  the  reader  better  than  any  words  of 
mine  can  do.  Miss  Aikin's  Memoir  of  her,  from  which 
I  have  quoted  somewhat,  appeared  in  the  edition 
of  Mrs.  Barbauld's  Works  published  in  London  in 
1825.  It  is  a  brief,  comprehensive,  and  very  limited 
sketch  of  her  aunt's  life  and  writings.     What  she  wrote 


2  LIFE   OF   MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  I. 

was  couched  in  elegant  language,  and  the  criticism  is 
very  discriminating  and  impartial ;  but  she  had  not  the 
space  proper  for  such  an  undertaking,  and  time  has 
given  us  many  more  facts  of  interest  connected  with 
Mrs.  Barbauld.  Many  of  her  contemporaries  have  left 
their  remembrances  and  records,  and  there  is  much  to 
be  gleaned  from  them  of  value  to  the  reader  of  the 
present  day.  The  biographer  of  Miss  Lucy  Aikin  her- 
self tells  us  of  her  Life  of  Mrs.  Barbauld,  and  that  of 
her  father,  John  Aikin,  M.  D. :  "  Both  may  be  regarded 
as  works  of  filial  piety,  for  her  aunt  shared  with  her 
father  in  the  reverence  and  affection  with  which  she 
regarded  the  union  of  virtue  and  talent.  The  cast  of 
her  own  mind  fitted  her  better  for  sympathizing  with 
the  strong  practical  sense,  the  liberal  views,  and  the 
literary  diligence  of  her  father,  than  with  the  sensi- 
bility and  poetical  elegance  of  her  aunt."  Undoubtedly 
the  biographer  of  Miss  Aikin  was  better  able  to  judge 
of  the  cast  of  her  mind  than  I  am,  and  perhaps  the 
task  was  not  congenial  to  her,  but,  at  all  events,  it  is 
more  correctly  elegant  than  warm  and  personal  in  its 
nature ;  but  sixty  pages  of  large  type  were  devoted  to 
the  Memoir  and  critical  remarks  on  the  Works,  while 
one  fair-sized  volume  was  given  by  her  to  the  life  of 
Dr.  Aikin. 

Mrs.  Barbauld's  fame  justifies  and  demands,  therefore, 
more  of  an  extended  study  of  her  life  and  writings  than 


1743.]  MISS   AIKIN'S   MEMOIR.  3 

has  yet  been  given  them  ;  and,  without  encroaching  on 
the  sacred  privacy  of  a  family,  it  seems  as  if,  with  the 
new  materials  now  at  hand,  a  pleasant  and  instructive 
Memoir  may  be  produced. 

I  have  used  the  letters  which  were  first  published  in 
the  second  volume  apart  from  Miss  Aikin's  Memoir,  and 
placed  them  in  their  proper  order  in  the  Life.  This  gives 
them  an  interest  which  their  own  merit  should  claim 
for  them;  but  in  fact  they  need  illustration  by  and 
impart  an  additional  value  to  the  biographical  sketch 
of  her  career.  I  am  able  to  add  to  them  two  which  I 
have  found  in  an  early  Memoir  of  Miss  Hannah  More, 
and  which  I  think  valuable,  and  worthy  of  being  placed 
among  the  others,  as  showing  in  a  marked  degree  the 
enlightened  and  liberal  religious  views  and  sentiments 
of  their  writer,  and  the  warm  friendship  existing .  be- 
tween herself  and  Miss  More.  Also  I  insert  a  brief 
note  to  Mr.  Wedgwood,  which  was  found  among  his 
papers  by  Miss  Meteyard ;  this  gives  us  a  little  glimpse 
of  the  domestic  life  of  the  author,  and  its  cares.  There 
are  some  extracts  from  her  correspondence  which  are 
not  very  numerous,  and  make  us  wish  for  more  ;  it  is  to 
be  hoped  that  time  will  bring  to  light,  among  other 
good  things,  more  of  Miss  Barbauld's  letters,  and  par- 
ticularly those  from  her  to  her  friend  Miss  Edgeworth, 
with  whom  she  corresponded  for  many  years,  whose 
memory  is  so  widely  respected  as  an  author,  and  who 


4  LIFE  OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  I. 

would  be  deeply  loved  for  herself,  could  she  be  more 
known  in  her  private  character. 

A  well-sustained  and  truthful  sketch  of  the  life, 
character,  and  writings  of  an  elevated  mind,  a  high- 
toned  and  gifted  person,  is  no  easy  task ;  and  it  becomes 
doubly  hard  when  the  materials  are  rather  scanty,  the 
incidents  few,  and  the  life  was  passed  quietly  amidst  the 
duties  and  trials  of  a  private  and  secluded  home.  The 
life  of  Mrs.  Barbauld  was  long,  full  of  days  and  honor, 
not  without  its  trials ;  she  bore  her  part  and  performed 
her  life  work  with  an  admirable  and  perfect  simplicity 
of  purpose.  Her  character  is  very  beautiful  as  studied 
from  her  own  expressions  and  writings  ;  her  poems  and 
prose  works  are  full  of  the  best  and  purest  thought;  and 
her  life  was  a  perfectly  rounded  circle  of  duties  well 
done,  sorrows  borne  with  Christian  fortitude,  human 
sympathies  and  warm  affection  shown  to  her  family 
and  friends.  In  the  course  of  her  long  career  she  was 
the  friend  and  intimate  of  three  generations  of  persons 
eminent  in  literature  and  science,  and  distinguished 
for  originality  of  mind,  vigor  of  .thought,  and  power  of 
expression.  Her  early  youth  was  passed  among  an 
unusually  intelligent  and  cultivated  group  of  people. 
The  celebrated  Dr.  Doddridge  was  for  many  years  an 
inmate  of  her  grandfather's  house.  Her  father,  John 
Aikin,  D.  D.,  his  assistant  for  a  time,  was  one  of  the 
most  eminent  and  learned  Dissenting  clergymen  of  his 


1743.]  HER   ACQUAINTANCES   AND   FRIENDS.  5 

generation.  Influenced  in  her  youth  by  such  men,  she 
met  in  her  early  womanhood  and  formed  a  life-long 
friendship  with  Mr. — afterwards  Dr. — Joseph  Priestley 
and  his  wife ;  and  her  residence  at  Warrington,  then 
the  seat  of  the  Academy,  was  in  the  society  of  a  little 
community  of  scholarly  and  refined  men  and  women, 
who  stimulated  her  mind,  already  replete  with  knowl- 
edge, and  carefully  trained  by  a  fine  classical  education, 
to  its  first  indications  of  genius  and  expressions  of  en- 
larged thought.  In  her  full  maturity  of  mind  she  met 
and  held  converse,  more  or  less  intimately,  with  many 
of  Great  Britain's  most  brilliant  thinkers,  great  writers, 
and  discoverers.  Among  these  contemporaries,  the  men 
and  women  of  her  day,  friends  and  acquaintances,  may  be 
numbered  Dr.  Priestley ;  John  Howard,  the  great  phi- 
lanthropist ;  Dugald  Stewart,  the  eminent  Scotch  meta- 
physician ;  Sir  Walter  Scott ;  Miss  Hannah  More  ;  Mrs. 
Elizabeth  Montague ;  Madame  D'Arblay ;  Roscoe,  the 
historian  and  banker  ;  Miss  Joanna  Baillie  ;  Sir  James 
Mackintosh ;  Coleridge  ;  Charles  Lamb  ;  Wordsworth  ; 
Rogers,  the  banker-poet  •;  Miss  Maria  Edge  worth.  Many 
more  great  names  might  be  added.  Henry  Crabb  Rob- 
inson was  one  of  her  great  admirers,  and  justly  enthu- 
siastic in  his  warm  expressions  of  friendship.  To  him, 
and  others  who  knew  her,  we  owe  little  reminiscences 
of  the  charms  of  her  conversation,  her  fine  personal 
appearance,  and  the  womanly  virtues  and  sweetness  of 


6  LIFE   OF   MRS.    BARBAULD.  [Chap.  I. 

character  which  were  so  truly  her  greatest  attraction, 
notwithstanding  her  high  literary  reputation  and  just 
claims  to  respect  as  an  author. 

Mrs.  Barbauld's  life  was  not  like  that  of  a  gifted  man 
whose  statue  bears  a  brief  inscription  to  this  effect,  — 
"  Too  short  for  friendship,  not  for  fame  "  ;  hers  was  an 
active  and  busy  one,  and  she  left  the  impress  of  her 
thought  and  best  efforts  on  many  young  minds  at  a  most 
sensitive  and  receptive  age.  "With  genius  and  powers 
of  mind  uncommon  in  her  sex,  cultivation  of  the 
highest  order,  womanly  charms  and  accomplishments 
which  fitted  her  for  the  most  brilliant  society  and  the 
highest  walks  of  literature,  what  Dr.  Johnson  has  stated 
in  his  observations  on  the  character  and  writings  of 
Dr.  Watts  is  not  less  true  of  her,  —  that  she  "  conde- 
scended for  children  to  lay  aside  the  scholar,  the  phi- 
losopher, and  the  wit,  and  to  write  little  poems  of  devo- 
tion and  systems  of  instruction  adapted  to  their  wants 
and  capacities,  from  the  dawn  of  reason  through  its 
gradations  of  advance  in  the  morning  of  life."  Her 
very  remarkable  capacity  as  a  writer  for  children  of  the 
most  charming  prose  hymns  ever  produced  at  any  time 
has  almost  obscured  her  other  manifestations  of  genius 
as  one  of  England's  ablest  minds,  and  an  ornament  to 
her  sex  and  age.  "Whether  she  is  considered  as  a 
powerful  prose  writer  on  various  subjects  which  re- 
ceived broad  and  liberal  treatment  in  clear  and  beauti- 


1743.]  HER   PARENTAGE  AND  BIRTH.  7 

ful  English  from  her  able  mind ;  as  a  sweet  singer  of 
the  ever-changing  and  many  aspects  of  life  which  drew 
from  her,  in  turn,  true  pathos,  sweet  and  pure  senti- 
ment, inspiring  and  elevating  verse,  devotional  songs 
of  the  highest  strain  of  worship ;  or  as  a  writer  of  the 
fascinating  and  simply  unsurpassed  hymns  for  children, 
—  she  merits  our  respectful  admiration  and  honest 
emulation  as  one  who  used  her  talents,  and  did  a  high 
and  noble  work  in  her  day. 

Anna  Letitia  Aikix,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was 
born  in  the  obscure  little  village  of  Kibworth  Harcourt, 
in  Leicestershire,  England,  June  20,  1743.  She  was 
the  eldest  child  and  only  daughter  of  her  parents,  John 
Aikin,  D.  D.,  and  his  wife  Jane,  who  was  a  daugh- 
ter of  the  Rev.  John  Jennings,  of  Kibworth.  Her 
father  was  the  son  of  a  Scotchman  who  was  settled  in 
London  as  a  shopkeeper.  He  had  originally  been  des- 
tined for  a  business  life,  and  had  been  for  some  time  a 
French  clerk  in  a  city  counting-house,  where  his  health 
was  affected  by  the  confinement  and  the  air  of  London. 
He  was  therefore  sent  into  the  country  for  his  health,  and 
placed  "  for  a  time  with  Dr.  Doddridge,  who  succeeded 
Dr.  Jennings  in  his  academy  at  Kibworth,  and  removed 
it  later  to  Xorthampton."  Feeling  a  strong  inclination 
for  the  life  of  a  scholar,  he  sought  and  obtained  his 
father's  consent  to  his  giving  up  a  business  career,  and 
began  to  prepare  himself  for  trie  ministry.     After  he 


8  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  I. 

had  completed  his  studies  at  the  University  of  Aber- 
deen, he  became  Dr.  Doddridge's  assistant  in  his  acad- 
emy at  Northampton.  Soon  after  his  acceptance  of 
this  position  he  was  chosen  by  a  Dissenting  congrega- 
tion at  Leicester  to  be  their  minister ;  but,  when  enter- 
ing on  his  new  position,  a  lung  disease  attacked  him, 
rendering  his  performance  of  the  duties  he  had  assumed 
impossible,  and  he  was  forced  to  abandon  all  thoughts 
of  preaching.  He  was  obliged  by  his  complaint  to 
resign  his  future  prospects  in  his  chosen  work,  and, 
being  without  advancement,  became  a  teacher  for  life. 
After  being  for  a  short  time  in  partnership  with  a  Mr. 
Lee,  who  kept  a  school  for  boys,  he  married  Miss  Jen- 
nings, and  opened  a  school  of  his  own  at  Kibworth, 
which  soon  became  well  known  and  very  successful. 
Gilbert  Wakefield,  who  afterwards  had  an  intimate 
knowledge  of  the  mind  and  thoughts  of  Dr.  Aikin  at 
Warrington,  said  of  him,  "  He  was  a  gentleman  whose 
endowments  as  a  man  and  as  a  scholar  it  is  not  easy 
to  exaggerate  by  panegyric ;  ....  his  intellectual 
attainments  were  of  a  very  superior  quality  indeed. 
His  acquaintance  with  all  true  evidences  of  revelation, 
with  morals,  politics,  and  metaphysics,  was  most  accu- 
rate and  extensive.  Every  path  of  polite  literature 
had  been  traversed  by  him,  and  traversed  with  success. 
He  understood  the  Hebrew  and  French  languages  to 
perfection,  and  had  an  intimacy  with  the  best  authors  of 


1743.]  THE   ENGLISH   DISSENTERS.  9 

Greece  and  Eome,  superior  to  what  I  have  ever  known 
in  any  Dissenting  minister  from  my  own  experience," ' 
Macaulay,  in  his  History,  refers  to  the  position  of 
the  Dissenting  clergy,  and  their  comparatively  inde- 
pendent circumstances  after  the  accession  of  William 
and  Mary.  The  agitation  about  the  passage  of  the 
Comprehension  Bill  and  the  repeal  of  the  Test  Acts 
causes  him  to  speak  of  the  opposition  and  failure  of 
these  measures,  and  why  they  did  not  pass.  He  says  : 
"  Even  those  Presbyterian  ministers  whose  scruples  the 
Comprehension  Bill  was  expressly  intended  to  remove 
were  by  no  means  unanimous  in  wishing  it  to  pass. 
The  ablest  and  most  eloquent  preachers  among  them 
had,  since  the  Declaration  of  Indulgence  had  appeared, 
been  very  agreeably  settled  in  the  capital  and  other 
large  towns,  and  were  now  about  to  enjoy,  under  the 
sure  guaranty  of  an  Act  of  Parliament,  that  toleration 
which  under  the  Declaration  of  Indulgence  had  been 
illicit  and  precarious.  The  situation  of  these  men  was 
such  as  the  great  majority  of  the  divines  of  the  Estab- 
lished Church  might  well  envy.  Few,  indeed,  of  the 
parochial  clergy  were  so  abundantly  supplied  with 
comforts  as  the  favorite  orator  of  a  great  assembly  of 
nonconformists  in  the  city.  The  voluntary  contribu- 
tions of  his  wealthy  hearers,  aldermen  and  deputies,  West 
India  merchants  and  Turkey  merchants,  wardens  of  the 
Company  of  Fishmongers,  and  wardens  of  the  Com- 
1* 


10  LIFE   OF   MRS.   BAKBAULD.  [Chap.  I. 

pany  of  Goldsmiths,  enabled  him  to  become  a  land- 
owner or  a  mortgagee.  The  best  broadcloth  from 
Blackwell  Hall  and  the-  best  poultry  from  Leadenhall 
Market  were  frequently  left  at  his  door.  His  influence 
over  his  flock  was  immense.  Scarcely  any  member  of 
a  congregation  of  Separatists  entered  into  a  partnership, 
married  a  daughter,  put  a  son  out  as  apprentice,  or  gave 
his  vote  at  an  election,  without  consulting  his  spiritual 
guide.  On  all  political  and  literary  questions  the  min- 
ister was  the  oracle  of  his  own  circle.  It  was  popularly 
remarked,  during  many  years,  that  an  eminent  Dissent- 
ing minister  had  only  to  make  his  son  an  attorney  or 
physician  ;  that  the  attorney  was  sure  to  have  clients,  and 
the  physician  to  have  patients.  While  a  waiting- woman 
was  generally  considered  as  a  helpmeet  for  a  chaplain 
in  holy  orders  of  the  Established  Church,  the  widows 
and  daughters  of  opulent  citizens  wrere  supposed  to  be- 
long in  a  peculiar  manner  to  nonconformist  pastors. 
One  of  the  great  Presbyterian  rabbies,  therefore,  might 
well  doubt  whether,  in  a  worldly  view,  he  should  be 
benefited  by  a  comprehension.  He  might  indeed  hold 
a  rectory  or  a  vicarage,  when  he  could  get  one.  But  in 
the  mean  time  he  would  be  destitute ;  his  meeting- 
house would  be  closed ;  his  congregation  would  be  dis- 
persed among  the  parish  churches ;  if  a  benefice  were 
bestowed  on  him,  it  would  probably  be  a  very  slender 
compensation  for  the  income  which  he  had  lost.     Nor 


1743.]  THE    ENGLISH   DISSENTERS.  11 

could  he  hope  to  have,  as  a  minister  of  the  Anglican 
Church,  the  authority  and  dignity  which  he  had  hither- 
to enjoyed.  He  would  always,  by  a  large  portion  of 
the  members  of  that  church,  be  regarded  as  a  deserter. 
He  might,  therefore,  on  the  whole,  very  naturally  wish 
to  be  left  where  he  was."  In  Brown's  "  Amusements, 
Serious  and  Comical,"  he  treats  the  Presbyterian  divines 
very  abusively ;  of  their  preaching  he  says  that  it 
"  brings  in  money,  and  money  buys  land  ;  and  land  is 
an  amusement  they  all  desire,  in  spite  of  their  hypo- 
critical cant.  If  it  were  not  for  the  quarterly  contribu- 
tions, there  would  be  no  longer  schism  or  separation." 
He  asks  how  it  can  be  imagined  that,  while  "  they  are 
maintained  like  gentlemen  by  the  breach,  they  will 
ever  preach  up  healing  doctrines."  Hawkins,  in  his 
Life  of  Dr.  Johnson,  relates  some  curious  instances  of 
the  influence  exercised  by  the  popular  Dissenting  min- 
isters. Addison,  in  a  paper  in  the  Spectator,  "  The 
Journal  of  the  Eetired  Citizen,"  has  indulged  in  some 
exquisite  pleasantry  on  this  subject.  "  The  Mr.  Xisby 
whose  opinions  about  the  peace,  the  Grand  Yizier,  and 
laced  coffee,  are  quoted  with  so  much  respect,  and  who 
is  so  well  regaled  with  marrow-bones,  ox-cheek,  and  a 
bottle  of  Brook's  and  Hellier,  was  John  Nesbit,  a  high- 
ly popular  preacher,  who  about  the  time  of  the  revolu- 
tion became  pastor  of  a  Dissenting  congregation  in 
Hare  Court,  Aldersgate  Street."     The  quotations  and 


12  LIFE   OF   MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  I. 

anecdotes  might  be  multiplied  to  prove  the  superiority 
and  worldly  advantages  of  the  lot  of  Dissenting  clergy- 
men ;  but,  whatever  their  condition  may  have  been  for 
a  time,  and  in  the  great  metropolis  among  the  city 
merchants,  the  salaries  and  emoluments  of  the  preach- 
ers of  the  sect,  and  their  worldly  position,  were  far  from 
being  so  enviable  as  Macaulay  would  have  his  reader 
believe,  at  the  time  of  which  we  read.  Dissent  was, 
and  always  has  been,  unfashionable,  and  confined  to  the 
middle  classes  in  England.  Eespectability  and  indus- 
try, wealth  and  influence,  were  not  wanting  in  their 
ranks ;  but,  as  a  rule,  the  Dissenters  were  of  the  middle 
class,  and  their  various  disabilities  under  the  law  kept 
them  from  aspiring  to  rank  and  honor,  which  they 
could  not  conscientiously  receive  and  enjoy.  The 
position  of  Miss  Aikin,  therefore,  was  bounded  by  cer- 
tain arbitrary  customs,  and  she  inherited  a  condition 
which  gave  her  "  neither  poverty  nor  riches,"  as  the 
daughter  of  a  Dissenting  clergyman  .whose  health 
obliged  him  to  resign  his  only  chance  for  wealth. 

Miss  Aikin  was  descended,  on  her  mother's  side, 
from  an  ancient  and  respectable  family,  the  "Wingates 
of  Bedfordshire.  She  showed  at  a  very  early  age  an 
extraordinary  capacity  for  learning,  and  great  mental 
powers.  Her  mother  wrote  of  her  in  a  letter  which  still 
exists :  "  I  once,  indeed,  knew  a  little  girl,  who  was  as 
eager  to  learn  as  her  instructors  could  be  to  teach  her, 


1743.]  HER   PRECOCITY.  13 

and  who,  at  two  years  old,  could  read  sentences  and 
little  stories  in  her  wise  book  roundly,  without  spell- 
ing, and  in  half  a  year  more  could  read  as  well  as 
most  women ;  but  I  never  knew  such  another,  and,  I 
believe,  never  shall."  The  good  lady  was  quite  dis- 
tressed, in  later  years,  that  she  could  not  make  her 
granddaughter,  Miss  Lucy  Aikin,  learn  as  readily,  and 
seems  to  have  left  a  lasting  impression  of  her  stern- 
ness on  the  child,  who  in  her  Eeminiscences  laments 
the  difference  between  her  aunt's  early  development 
and  her  own ;  she  says  that  Mrs.  Barbauld  "  could  read 
with  ease  before  she  was  twenty  months  old."  This 
very  unusual  display  of  mental  strength  and  precocious 
genius  did  not  at  all  exhaust  her  intellect,  and  we  find 
her  pursuing  a  classical  education  with  great  interest 
and  avidity.  Mrs.  Cappe,  in  her  valuable  Memoir  of 
her  excellent  husband,  relates  that  Mr.  Cappe  passed 
the  year  1748,  previous  to  entering  as  a  student  under 
Dr.  Doddridge,  with  Dr.  Aikin,  receiving  from  him 
preparatory  instruction ;  and  while  an  inmate  of  his 
family  he  had  great  pleasure  in  observing  many  early 
indications  of  his  daughter's  talent.  His  attention  was 
attracted  by  the  child,  then  but  five  years  of  age.  One 
day  as  the  Doctor  and  he  were  conversing  on  the  pas- 
sions, the  former  observed  that  joy,  accurately  defined, 
cannot  have  place  in  a  state  of  perfect  felicity,  since  it 
supposes  an  accession  of  happiness.     "  I  think  you  are 


14  LIFE   OF   MRS.   BAHBAULD.  [Chap.  I. 

mistaken,  papa,"  said  a  little  voice  from  the  opposite 
side  of  the  table.  "  Why  so,  Laetitia  ? "  "  Because  in 
the  chapter  I  read  to  you  this  morning  in  the  Testa- 
ment it  is  said,  there  is  more  joy  in  heaven  over  one 
sinner  that  repenteth,  than  over  ninety  and  nine  just 
persons  that  need  no  repentance."  This  appears  to 
have  brought  the  worthy  Doctor's  definitions  to  a  ter- 
mination for  the  time.  Her  excellent  mother  per- 
sonally instructed  her  in  all  the  domestic  branches  of 
a  woman's  education,  and  made  her  a  proficient  in  the 
household  arts,  in  which  too  often  women  without  liter- 
ary tastes  for  compensation  and  those  gifted  mentally 
are  alike  singularly  deficient. 

Her  studies  were  pursued  under  the  parental  roof 
entirely,  and  she  enjoyed  peculiar  advantages  from  the 
care  of  cultivated  parents,  and  their  refined  and  elevat- 
ing influence.  But,  while  fortunate  in  her  surround- 
ings in  these  respects,  she  was  almost  without  com- 
panions of  her  own  age.  At  the  time  when  the  young 
and  light-hearted  are  allowed  and  encouraged  to  mingle 
with  friends  and  playfellows,  she  was  quite  alone, 
without  any  suitable  associates  of  her  own  age,  sex, 
and  position.  The  small  village  of  Kibworth  afforded 
so  little  society  for  her  that  she  was  thrown  upon  her 
own  resources  for  occupation  and  amusement.  Her 
brother  John  was  three  years  younger  than  herself,  so 
that  she  was  brought  up  among  people  of  mature  years, 


1743.]  HER   EARLY   DEVELOPMENT.  15 

which  tended  to  give  her  mind  a  more  serious  cast 
than  was  natural,  or  perhaps  desirable.  In  after  life 
she  often  referred  her  want  of  ease  and  a  feeling  of 
constraint  in  society  to  this  cause,  and  probably  with 
good  reason.  Her  mother  was  unusually  strict  in  her 
oversight  of  her,  that  her  daughter  might  not  become 
too  masculine  in  her  tastes,  left  as  she  was  almost  en- 
tirely to  her  for  female  companionship  in  the  large 
academy  for  boys,  of  which  her  father  was  the  master. 
Being  a  woman  of  keen  perceptions  and  good  under- 
standing, she  saw,  undoubtedly,  the  strong  and  almost 
masculine  mind  of  her  daughter,  and  wished  to  temper 
judiciously  the  powerful  traits  of  character  and  under- 
standing she  displayed  with  feminine  graces  and  ac- 
complishments, thus  making  her  in  after  life  the  noble 
specimen  of  womanly  perfection  which  she  was.  The 
very  loneliness  and  restraint  of  these  early  years  had  a 
marked  effect  in  strengthening  and  developing  her 
mind,  and  concentrating  in  an  unusual  degree  her 
thought  and  power  of  expressing  herself.  Wordsworth 
speaks  of  the  inward  eye, 

"  Which  is  the  bliss  of  solitude  "  ; 

and  like  all  true  poets,  thinkers,  and  lovers  of  nature, 
she  found 

"  Tongues  in  trees,  books  in  the  running  brooks, 
Sermons  in  stones,  and  good  in  everything." 

Xature  inspired  her,  and,  born  with  the  heart  of  a  poet, 


16  LIFE   OF   MRS.    BARBAULD.  [Chap.  I. 

she  drew  pleasure  and  the  keenest  enjoyment  from  the 
observation  and  study  of  the  simple,  yet  ever- varying, 
face  of  that  great  world  of  beauty  which  unrolls  before 
us  all  its  vast  and  boundless  pages  for  those  who 
love  it. 

Miss  Aikin  says  of  her  aunt's  life  at  this  time :  "  Her 
recollections  of  childhood  and  youth  were,  in  fact,  not 
associated  with  much  of  the  pleasure  and  gayety  usually 
attendant  upon  that  period  of  life  ;  but  it  must  be  re- 
garded as  a  circumstance  favorable,  rather  than  other- 
wise, to  the  unfolding  of  her  genius,  to  have  been  thus 
left  to  find  or  make  in  solitude  her  own  objects  of  in- 
terest and  pursuit.  The  love  of  rural  nature  sank  deep 
into  her  heart ;  her  vivid  fancy  exerted  itself  to  color, 
to  animate,  and  to  diversify  all  the  objects  which  sur- 
rounded her ;  the  few  but  choice  authors  of  her  father's 
library,  which  she  read  and  reread,  had  leisure  to 
make  their  full  impression,  —  to  mould  her  sentiments, 
and  to  form  her  taste ;  the  spirit  of  devotion,  early  in- 
culcated upon  her  as  a  duty,  opened  to  her  by  degrees 
an  exhaustless  source  of  tender  and  sublime  delight ; 
and  while  yet  a  child  she  was  surprised  to  find  herself 
a  poet."  Among  her  other  advantages  for  self-improve- 
ment, she  enjoyed  one  rather  peculiar  for  a  woman,  — 
an  excellent  classical  education,  very  rare  at  that  day, 
when  a  strong  prejudice  almost  prevented  women  from 
gaining  any  thorough  knowledge  of  the  learning  of  the 


1743.]  HER   CLASSICAL   EDUCATION.  17 

ancients,  and  in  most  cases  confined  them  to  the  sim- 
plest rudiments  of  the  English  branches.  Grand  ex- 
ceptions, of  course,  there  were  to  this  rule,  as  the  career 
of  Mrs.  Barbauld  and  many  of  her  sister  authors  proves ; 
but  as  a  predominant  condition  the  education  of  women 
was  very  poor  at  that  time  in  England.  Her  father 
was  justly  proud  of  her  mental  activity,  breadth  of 
thought,  and  industry,  and  at  last  yielded  his  own  un- 
willingness to  teach  her  what  he  considered  the  un- 
feminine  branches  of  knowledge,  because  of  her  great 
wish  to  learn.  Under  his  good  instruction  she  became 
proficient  in  the  Latin,  French,  and  Italian  languages, 
and  made  some  progress  in  the  study  of  the  Greek  au- 
thors. She  was  early  a  thorough  student  and  admirer 
of  the  wTriters  of  the  best  and  most  vigorous  English,  and 
her  own  works  indicate  plainly  her  love  and  careful  read- 
ing of  these  classic  models.  She  was  not  afraid  to  ex- 
press what  she  strongly  felt,  the  truest  admiration  for 
Addison  and  others  of  the  so-called  Augustan  Age  of 
English  literature  ;  and  to  the  influence  of  these  great 
minds  we  trace  her  fine  style,  her  classic  and  powerful 
language,  her  early  development  of  poetic  talent,  and  her 
eloquent,  forcible  prose.  Her  mind  was  naturally  well 
balanced  and  strong,  her  views  liberal,  her  fancy  keen ; 
native  wit  and  animation  also  threw  their  charm  over 
her  work ;  but  her  taste  was  formed,  and  her  mental 
grasp  enlarged  by  the  judicious  studies  of  her  childhood 
and  youth,  b 


18  LIFE   OF  MRS.    BARBAULD.  [Chap.  II. 


CHAPTER    II. 

Removal  to  Warrington.  —  Friends  made  there.  —  Mode  of  Life 
at  the  Academy.  —  Tutors  and  Scholars.  —  State  of  Learning 
in  England  at  the  Universities.  — Address  to  Mrs.  Priest- 
ley. —  Visits  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Priestley  at  Leeds.  —  Poems  writ- 
ten there.  —  Visits  Mr.  Turner  at  Wakefield. 

SO  passed  the  earlier  years  of  Miss  Aikin ;  and,  hap- 
pily for  her,  when  longer  seclusion  and  quiet  might 
have  depressed  her  naturally  good  spirits,  and  injured 
the  brightness  of  her  fancy,  wit,  and  vivacity  of  thought, 
she  was  removed  to  a  more  animated  scene,  congenial 
with  her  social  and  literary  tastes.  By  the  invitation 
of  the  trustees  of  the  Dissenting  Academy  at  Warring- 
ton, her  father  assumed  the  position  of  classical  tutor  at 
that  Institution.  This  change  of  residence  and  society 
happened  when  his  daughter  was  fifteen  years  of  age/ 
and  the  next  fifteen  years  of  her  life  were  mostly  passed 
in  that  town.  The  Academy  numbered  among  its  trus- 
tees, tutors,  and  scholars,  names  celebrated  in  literature, 
art,  and  the  sciences.  Lord  Willoughby  of  Parham 
wTas  for  a  time,  as  representative  of  one  of  the  oldest 
Presbyterian  families  in  the  kingdom,  president  of  its 


1758.]  DR.   PEIESTLEY.  19 

board  of  trustees.  Here  Priestley,  addressed  later  on 
as  "  Patriot,  and  Saint,  and  Sage  "  by  Coleridge,  first 
displayed  his  great  mental  endowments,  and  engaged  in 
a  variety  of  publications  of  his  observations  and  re- 
searches, which  announced  to  the  world  the  extent  and 
originality  of  his  thought  and  varied  accomplishments. 
As  one  of  those  intimately  connected  with  Miss 
Aikin  at  this  period  of  their  lives,  and  always  the  ob- 
ject of  her  affectionate  and  respectful  admiration,  a  brief 
sketch  of  Dr.  Priestley  may  not  be  misplaced  here. 
Born  in  an  obscure  village,  near  Leeds,  where  his  father 
was  a  small  woollen-cloth  manufacturer,  Joseph  Priest- 
ley was  precluded  by  the  very  moderate  circumstances 
of  his  parents  from  receiving  a  thorough  education,  but 
was  enabled  to  fit  himself  fairly  for  the  position  of  a 
Dissenting  clergyman.  His  active  mind  and  powerful 
grasp  of  thought  soon  carried  him  into  an  extended 
course  of  study,  and  he  began  while  at  Warrington  to 
show  the  wonderful  scope  -and  breadth  of  intellect  he 
possessed.  In  1767  he  left  Warrington  to  fill  the  pul- 
pit of  a  chapel  at  Leeds  ;  and  the  chemical  researches  he 
there  began  were  of  the  utmost  importance  and  value, 
laying  the  basis  of  all  after  discoveries  in  the  chemical 
properties  of  gases,  and  the  foundation  of  that  branch 
of  the  science  known  as  pneumatic  chemistry.  To  him 
the  world  is  indebted  for  the  discovery  and  analysis 
of  a  number  of  the  gases  now  known.     He  had  an  ex- 


20  LIFE   OF   MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  II. 

traordinary  versatility  of  mind,  and  the  most  intense 
love  of  truth  in  all  its  manifestations,  natural  or  moral. 
Whether  he  is  viewed  as  a  pneumatic  chemist,  a  theo- 
logian, an  electrician,  an  historian,  or  a  politician,  his 
writings  show  him  as  an  ardent  lover  of  the  great  and 
beautiful  in  nature  and  mankind.  He  became  the  sub- 
ject of  sharp  persecution  for  his  sympathy  with  the 
earlier  manifestations  of  the  French  Eevolution,  which 
could  not  have  been  the  result  of  anything  but  the  lowest 
prejudices  and  party  spirit;  and  the  ill-treatment  he 
received,  the  actual  violence  with  which  his  property 
was  utterly  destroyed  at  the  Birmingham  riot,  when  he 
with  his  family  were  forced  to  flee  for  their  lives,  at 
last  drove  him  to  America,  where  he  died  in  1804. 

The  elder  Dr.  Aikin  was  at  first  the  classical  tutor, 
and  later  filled  the  theological  chair  at  the  Academy, 
after  the  death  of  its  able  and  excellent  incumbent,  Dr. 
John  Taylor  of  Norwich,  —  a  man  widely  known  and 
respected  for  his  piety  and  learning.  Gilbert  Wake- 
field, a  learned  and  able  scholar  and  critic,  well  known 
as  the  translator  of  Lucretius,  was  tutor  after  Dr.  Priest- 
ley left,  in  his  place.  He  was  graduated  at  Jesus  Col- 
lege, Cambridge,  and  ordained  as  a  deacon  in  the 
Established  Church.  Feeling  conscientious  scruples,  he 
became  a  Dissenter,  greatly  to  his  own  loss  in  a  worldly 
point  of  view.  He  wrote  and  published  some  very  bold 
and  offensively  radical  pamphlets,  and,  finally,  a  "  Keply 


1758.]  WARRINGTON   ACADEMY.  21 

to  some  Parts  of  the  Bishop  of  LandafTs  Address  "  drew 
upon  him  the  charge  of  sedition.  He  was  arrested,  and 
imprisoned  for  two  years  ;  his  publisher  also  being  pun- 
ished for  printing  a  seditious  work.  This  treatment  he 
did  not  long  survive,  his  health  being  affected  by  the 
confinement.  He  fell  a  victim  to  fever  Soon  after  his 
release.  Dr.  Enfield,  a  warm  friend  of  the  younger  Dr. 
Aikin,  by  him  addressed,  — 

"  0  friend,  to  whose  clear  sight  the  mystic  roll 
Of  wisdom  lies  displayed,  — " 

was  another  of  the  able  and  scholarly  men  who  made 
the  Academy  the  seat  of  such  learning  and  repute  as  it 
enjoyed  for  a  time.  It  numbered  among  its  scholars 
the  political  economist  Malthus,  Dr.  Estlin  of  Bristol, 
"  a  learned  scholar  and  divine,"  the  Martineaus  and 
Taylors  of  Norwich,  John  Wedgwood  of  Etruria,  son 
of  the  great  potter,  and  afterwards  one  himself,  Dr.  Per- 
cival  of  Manchester,  Dr.  Farr,  the  translator  of  Hippoc- 
rates, and  John  Aikin,  M.  D.,  who  were  among  those 
pupils  of  the  establishment  that  made  themselves  dis- 
tinguished by  their  talents  and  learning  in  the  walks 
of  literature. 

Warrington  is  one  of  the  oldest  towns  in  Lancashire, 
and  was  originally  a  Eoman  station.  It  is  situated  on 
the  north  bank  of  the  Mersey.  Miss  Aikin,  in  her 
poem,  "  The  Invitation,"  addressed  to  a  friend,  has  de- 
scribed so  well  and  fully  the  surrounding  objects  of 


22  LIFE   OF  MRS.    BARBAULD.  [Chap.  II. 

beauty,  and  her  love  of  the  place,  that  I  need  only  say 
it  is  at  the  present  time  very  much  the  same  in  its  gen- 
eral aspect  as  she  saw  it  more  than  a  hundred  years 
ago,  with  the  exception  of  a  large  town  which  has 
grown  up  round  the  Warrington  Junction  of  the  North- 
western Eailroad,  that  runs  near  the  old  town.  The 
old  town  remains  much  as  it  was,  and  is  rather  a 
sleepy,  dull  place.  During  the  civil  wars  Warrington 
was  the  scene  of  two  severe  conflicts.  From  the  press 
of  this  town  the  first  newspaper  in  the  county  was 
issued,  and  it  also  boasted  that  the  first  stage-coach  in 
the  country  was  started  from  it.  John  Howard's  work 
on  Prisons  was  printed  at  the  Warrington  Press,  as 
were  also  the  most  of  Miss  Aikin's  earlier  works,  the 
first  writings  of  Thomas  Eoscoe,  the  works  of  Dr. 
Ferrier,  Gibson,  and  others.  In  1757  an  academy  was 
established  there,  which  rapidly  rose  into  celebrity  un- 
der the  able  direction  and  care  of  the  tutors  whose 
names  have  been  mentioned,  and  others.  The  Academy 
was  broken  up  in  the  year  1786,  and  from  its  ruins  a 
college  was  started  at  York,  then  removed  to  Manches- 
ter, and  now  has  several  branches,  of  which  that  in 
London  is  one,  —  the  Manchester  New  College.  This 
institution  is  in  Gordon  Square,  London,  and  is  pre- 
sided over  by  the  Eev.  James  Martineau,  D.  D.,  known 
as  one  of  the  ablest  thinkers  and  brilliant  and  powerful 
writers  of  the  present  time,  who  holds  the  office  of 


1753.]  WARRINGTON  ACADEMY.  23 

Principal,  filling  likewise  the  professorship  of  Philoso- 
phy. The  chair  of  Hebrew  language  and  literature  is 
ably  filled  by  his  son,  Professor  Kussell  Martin  eau,  who 
follows  in  the  footsteps  of  his  father,  and  will  sustain 
the  family  reputation  for  scholarship  and  learning. 

From  the  Transactions  of  the  Historical  Society  of 
Cheshire  and  Lancashire  I  take  some  interesting  facts 
about  this  Academy,  with  which  Miss  Aikin  was  iden- 
tified in  early  life,  and  which  she  celebrated  in  the  fol- 
lowing lines,  testifying  her  genuine  love  for  and  interest 
in  the  place, — 

"  Mark  where  its  simple  front  yon  mansion  rears, 
The  nursery  of  men  for  future  years." 

These  are  taken  from  her  poem  describing  Warring- 
ton, and  inviting  her  friend  to  visit  her,  of  which  I 
have  just  spoken.  The  buildings  were  "  simple  "  indeed, 
even  poor ;  and  the  real  strength  of  the  Academy  lay, 
not  in  the  beauty  of  the  architecture  nor  the  extent  of 
the  buildings,  but  in  the  able,  self-denying,  and  devoted 
tutors.  Mr.  Seddon,  the  originator  of  it,  "  did  not  scru- 
ple some  stout  puffing  "  on  its  behalf.  Mrs.  Barbauld, 
after  her  marriage  and  settlement  at  Palgrave,  receiving 
one  of  his  official  statements,  wrote  to  her  brother,  Dr. 
Aikin,  then  residing  at  Warrington,  in  the  practice  of 
his  profession,  "  Who  hath  believed  our  report  ? "  The 
Academy  was  in  existence  twenty-nine  years,  but  the 
management  and  discipline  exercised  by  the  tutors  not 


24  LIFE   OF   MRS.   BAEBAULD.  [Chap.  II. 

being  equal  to  their  instruction,  the  Presbyterians,  who 
had  taken  an  active  and  important  part  in  its  origin  and 
maintenance,  fell  off,  not  being  satisfied  with  the  way 
the  affairs  of  the  institution  were  administered.  New 
buildings  were  contracted  for  and  built  without  proper 
means  of  meeting  the  debt  thus  assumed,  and  this  was 
another  unfortunate  and  ill-judged  arrangement  bring- 
ing trouble  with  it.  The  debt  was  finally  paid  by  sub- 
scriptions raised  by  the  friends  of  the  Academy ;  and 
among  them  we  find  the  name  of  Josiah  Wedgwood  of 
Etruria,  whose  son  John  had  entered  there  as  a  student 
in  1782-83.  Eeform  in  other  directions,  for  various 
reasons,  appears  to  have  been  considered,  after  many 
efforts,  an  impossibility,  and  the  close  of  the  midsum- 
mer session  of  1786  saw  also  the  termination  of  the 
Warrington  Academy.  Mrs.  Barbauld  wrote  of  the  new 
buildings,  when  she  addressed  Dr.  Enfield  on  his  re- 
visiting Warrington  in  1789,  when  she  says,  — 

"  Lo  there  the  seats  where  science  loved  to  dwell, 
Where  Liberty  her  ardent  spirit  breathed." 

Dr.  Priestley,  in  his  own  Memoir,  alludes  to  his 
residence  at  Warrington,  and  says  of  it:  "I  was  sin- 
gularly happy  there  in  the  society  of  my  fellow-tutors, 
and  of  Mr.  Seddon,  the  minister  of  the  place.  We 
drank  tea  together  every  Saturday  and  our  conversa- 
tion was  equally  instructive  and  pleasing.  I  often 
thought  it  not  a  little  extraordinary,  that  four  persons 


1758.]  MR.    SEDDON.  25 

who  had  no  previous  knowledge  of  each  other  should 
have  been  brought  to  unite  in  conducting  such  a 
scheme  as  this,  all  being  zealous  Necessarians  as  we 
were."  Again  he  writes  of  his  life  there :  "  Though  all 
the  tutors  in  my  time  lived  together  in  the  most  per- 
fect harmony,  though  we  all  exerted  ourselves  to  the 
utmost,  and  there  was  no  complaint  of  want  of  dis- 
cipline, the  Academy  did  not  flourish."  And  he  ap- 
pears to  have  cherished  most  happy  recollections  of 
this  peaceful  circle  and  the  quiet  life  he  enjoyed  there. 
Dr.  Aikin  was  succeeded  by  Dr.  Priestley  in  his  tutor- 
ship of  Belles-Lettres  and  the  classics,  when  he  took 
the  chair  of  theology  made  vacant  by  the  death  of  Dr. 
Taylor.  Mr.  Seddon,  the  minister  of  the  town,  was 
also  the  tutor  of  Belles-Lettres  for  a  time,  and  resident 
manager  of  the  establishment  under  the  title  of  Rector 
Academics.  He  was  succeeded  in  his  office,  at  his 
death,  by  Dr.  Enfield.  Mr.  Seddon,  in  writing  to  Dr. 
Aikin  in  regard  to  his  removal  from  Kib  worth  to 
Warrington,  after  his  appointment  there,  gives  a  curi- 
ous passage  in  his  letter,  which  shows  how  very  difficult 
and  disagreeable  travelling  was  in  England  a  hundred 
years  and  more  since. 

Mr.  Seddon's  letter  is  dated  March  11,  1758.  "Mr. 
Holland  has  given  us  some  reason  to  hope  that  you 
will  come  over  to  Warrington  in  the  Easter  week,  in 
order  to  take  a  view  of  your  future  situation ;  if  so, 


26  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  II. 

give  me  leave  to  recommend  the  following  plan.  I  '11 
suppose  you  set  out  from  Kib worth  on  Sunday  after- 
noon ;  as  you  "intend  travelling  by  post-chaises,  you  '11 
easily  reach  Loughborough,  or  perhaps  Derby,  that 
night ;  the  next  night  you  may  come  to  Offerton,  which 
is  about  a  mile  short  of  Stockport,  where  I  am  with 
Mrs.  Seddon,  and  will  be  ready  to  receive  you,  and 
wait  upon  you  to  Warrington ;  you  will  do  .well  to 
come  prepared  for  riding,  for  you  will  not  meet  with 
any  carriages  at  Stockport,  nor  are  the  roads  to  War- 
rington proper  for  them;  when  you  get  to  a  place 
called  Bullock's  Smithy,  about  two  miles  short  of 
Stockport,  inquire  for  Offerton.  Mr.  Eoe,  late  of  Bir- 
mingham, now  lives  there,  and  we  shall  be  glad  to  see' 
you.  If  you  '11  write  to  me  time  enough,  and  be  par- 
ticular enough  in  your  time,  I  will  endeavor  to  meet 
you  with  my  own  chaise,  or  send  a  servant  for  that 
purpose." 

All  these  elaborate  preparations  for  comfort  in  so 
short  a  journey  show  how  very  difficult  and  tedious 
travelling  was  at  that  period ;  and  when  it  is  considered 
that  the  approach  to  Warrington,  the  seat  of  a  large 
academy,  was  by  a  road  too  bad  for  carriages,  one 
realizes  something  of  the  discomfort  involved. 

The  society  at  Warrington  was  enlivened  and  adorned 
by  a  number  of  brilliant  and  accomplished  ladies,  among 
whom  Miss  Aikin  shone  and  was  warmly  loved.     Miss 


1758.]  HER  LIFE   AT   WARRINGTON.  27 

Lucy  Aikin  says  of  her  aunt  at  this  time  :  "  The  fifteen 
succeeding  years  passed  by  her  at  Warrington  compre- 
hended probably  the  happiest,  as  well  as  the  most 
brilliant,  portion  of  her  existence.  She  was  at  this  time 
possessed  of  great  beauty,  distinct  traces  of  which  she 
retained  to  the  latest  period  of  life.  Her  person  was 
slender,  her  complexion  exquisitely  fair,  with  the  bloom 
of  perfect  health ;  her  features  were  regular  and  elegant, 
and  her  dark  blue  eyes  beamed  with  the  light  of  wit 
and  fancy." 

"A  solitary  education,"  says  the  same  authority, 
■  had  not  produced  on  her  its  most  frequent  ill  effects, 
pride  and  self-importance ;  the  reserve  of  her  manners 
proceeded  solely  from  bashfulness,  for  her  temper  in- 
clined her  strongly  to  friendship  and  social  pleasures, 
and  her  active  imagination,  which  represented  all  objects 
tinged  with  hues  '  unborrowed  of  the  sun/  served  as  a 
charm  against  that  disgust  with  common  characters 
and  daily  incidents  which  so  frequently  renders  the 
conscious  possessor  of  superior  talents  at  once  unami- 
able  and  unhappy."  Her  warmest  attachment  seems 
to  have  been  placed  in  Mrs.  Priestley,  whom  Dr.  Priest- 
ley had  married  in  1762.  He  describes  her  in  his 
Memoirs  as  "a  woman  of  an  excellent  understanding, 
much  improved  by  reading;  of  great  fortitude  and 
strength  of  mind;  and  of  a  temper  in  the  highest  de- 
gree  affectionate   and    generous,    feeling   strongly   for 


28  LIFE   OF   MRS.    BARBAULD.  [Chap.  II. 

others  and  little  for  herself."  Miss  Aikin  passed  much 
time  with  this  superior  and  cultivated  woman;  she 
wrote  to  her  and  of  her,  — 

"  Oft  the  well-worn  path  to  her"  abode 
At  early  dawn  with  eager  steps  I  've  trode 
And  with  unwilling  feet  returned  at  eve, 
Loath  its  approach  unheeded  to  believe. 
No  cold  reserve,  suspicion,  silent  care, 
Or  dark,  unfriendly  passions  enter  there ; 
But  pleasing  fires  of  lively  Fancy  play, 
And  "Wisdom  mingles  her  serener  ray  !  " 

The  "Address"  to  Mrs.  Priestley,  of  which  these 
lines  form  only  a  small  part,  was  never  published,  and 
they  are  taken  from  the  manuscript  poem  which  was 
thrown  into  the  chaise  at  the  time  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Priest- 
ley left  Warrington  for  Leeds  in  1767.  This  is  believed 
to  be  her  earliest  poetical  work,  at  least  of  any  impor- 
tance or  length.  Miss  Lucy  Aikin,  in  one  of  her  letters 
to  a  friend  long  afterwards,  in  speaking  of  Warrington 
and  its  society,  says,  "  Both  bout  rim6s  and  vers  de  societe 
were  in  fashion  with  the  set.  Once  it  was  their,  custom 
to  slip  anonymous  pieces  into  Mrs.  Priestley's  work- 
bag.  One  copy  of  verses,  a  very  eloquent  one,  puzzled 
all  guessers  for  a  long  time  ;  at  length  it  was  traced  to 
Dr.  Priestley's  self.  Somebody  was  bold  enough  to 
talk  of  getting  up  private  theatricals.  This  was  a 
dreadful  business.  All  the  wise  and  grave,  the  whole 
tutorhood.  cried  out,  It  must  not  be  !  All  the  students, 


1758.]  SOCIETY  AT  WARRINGTON.  29 

the  Rigbys,  and,  I  must  add,  my  aunt,  took  the  prohibi- 
tion very  sulkily ;  and  my  aunt's  '  Ode  to  Wisdom '  was 
the  result."  .  In  one  of  Mrs.  Barbauld's  letters  to  her 
friend  Miss  Belsham,  she  herself  alludes  to  the  gayety 
and  brightness  of  the  little  circle,  and  wishes  her  there 
to  make  one  of  their  merry  group.  The  elder  students 
and  the  young  ladies  met  in  a  pleasant  and  social  way, 
which  gave  life  and  animation  to  the  place.  She  writes, 
"  We  have  a  knot  of  lasses  just  after  your  own  heart,  — 
as  merry,  blithe,  and  gay  as  you  would  wish  them,  and 
very  smart  and  clever ;  two  of  them  are  the  Miss 
Rigbys." 

Simplicity  of  life  and  manners,  combined  with  intel- 
lectual pursuits  and  tastes,  made  Warrington  during  this 
period  a  charming  residence  for  one  of  Miss  Aikin's 
genius  and  love  of  literature  and  society.  Though 
struggling  with  poverty  and  the  annoyance  attendant 
on  straitened  means,  the  tutors  were  men  of  learning, 
refinement,  and  good  reputation,  and  the  students  were 
young  men  of  good  families  and  position,  and  while 
they  were  inmates  of  the  tutors'  houses  behaved  in  a 
quiet  and  dignified  manner.  Miss  Lucy  Aikin  wrote 
in  another  letter :  "  I'  have  often  thought  with  envy  of 
that  society.  Neither  Oxford  nor  Cambridge  could 
boast  of  brighter  names  in  literature  or  science  than 
several  of  these  Dissenting  tutors,  —  humbly  content, 
in  an  obscure  town,  and  on  a  scanty  pittance,  to  culti- 


30  LIFE   OF   MRS.    BARBAULD.  [Chap.  II. 

vate  iu  themselves  and  communicate  to  a  rising  genera- 
tion those  mental  acquirements  and  moral  habits  which 
are  their  own  exceeding  great  reward.  They  and 
theirs  lived  together  like  one  large  family,  and  in  the 
facility  of  their  intercourse  they  found  large  compensa- 
tion for  its  deficiency  in  luxury  and  splendor." 

Gibbon  in  his  Autobiography  gives  a  picture  of  the 
state  of  learning  and  the  want  of  discipline  at  Oxford, 
which  makes  one  question  whether  much  more  cannot 
be  said  for  the  industrious  and  worthy  tutors  at  War- 
rington. He  writes  of  his  life  at  Magdalen  College : 
"  I  spent  fourteen  months  at  Magdalen  College ;  they 
proved  the  fourteen  months  the  most  idle  and  unprofit- 
able of  my  whole  life ;  the  reader  will  pronounce  be- 
tween the  school  and  the  scholar,  but  I  cannot  affect 
to  believe  that  Nature  had  disqualified  me  for  all  liter- 
ary pursuits."  And  in  confirmation  of  the  singular 
want  of  supervision  and  instruction  he  received,  the 
historian  quotes  another  great  authority,  Dr.  Adam 
Smith,  who  states  that  in  the*  University  of  Oxford 
the  greater  part  of  the  public  professors  have  for  these 
many  years  given  up  altogether  even  the  pretence  of 
teaching.  "  Incredible  as  the  fact  may  appear,  I  must 
rest  my  belief  on  the  positive  and  impartial  evidence 
of  a  master  of  moral  and  political  wisdom,  who  had 
himself  resided  atv  Oxford."  Gibbon  adds,  H  Of  the 
state  of  discipline  occasioned  by  the  position  of  the 


175S.]  DISCIPLINE   AT   THE   ACADEMY.  31 

Oxford  professors,  who  are  secure  in  the  enjoyment  of 
a  fixed  stipend,  without  the  necessity  of  labor  or  the 
apprehension  of  control  ....  Dr.  well  remem- 
bered that  he  had  a  salary  to  receive,  and  only  forgot 
that  he  had  a  duty  to  perform.  Instead  of  guiding 
the  studies  and  watching  over  the  behavior  of  his 
disciple,  I  was  never  summoned  to  attend  even  the 
ceremony  of  a  lecture ;  and,  excepting  one  voluntary 
visit  to  his  rooms  during  the  eight  months  of  his 
titular  office,  the  tutor  and  his  pupil  lived  in  the  same 
college  as  strangers  to  each  other."  "When  it  is  remem- 
bered that  Gibbon  was  even  in  early  youth  an  intense 
lover  of  learning,  and  yet  that  "  the  want  of  experience, 
of  advice,  and  of  occupation,  soon  betrayed  me  into 
some  improprieties  of  conduct,  ill-chosen  company,  late 
hours,  and  inconsiderate  expense,  —  a  tour  to  Bath,  a 
visit  into  Buckinghamshire,  and  four  excursions  to 
London  in  the  same  winter,"  what  must  be  thought  of 
the  state  of  the  University  ?  and  how  did  the  boys  who 
did  not  love  learning,  and  aspire  to  classical  study  and 
composition  as  Gibbon  did  in  the  midst  of  these  wild 
and  lawless  frolics,  conduct  themselves  ?  The  pupils  of 
Warrington  Academy,  being  in  a  large  house  by  them- 
selves, and  no  longer  under  the  care  of  the  different 
tutors,  with  whom  they  previously  boarded,  were  much 
more  at  liberty,  and  many  unpleasant  practical  jokes 
were  the  consequence  ;  some  being  of  such  a  nature  as 


32  LIFE   OF   MRS.    BARBAULD.  [Chap.  II. 

to  bring  discredit  to  the  establishment,  and  seriously 
injure  its  reputation  for  order  and  quiet. 

The  West  Indian  scholars  shocked  the  tutors  by 
their  lawlessness,  violence,  and  Southern  habits  of  in- 
dolence ;  they  were  wont  to  bewail  their  native  islands, 
and  dec'lare  that  the  earliest  request  of  a  planter's  child 
was  for  "  a  young  nigger  to  kick."  This  set  was  very 
unruly,  and  in  time  broke  up  the  Academy'  by  their 
insolence  and  insubordination.  Archibald  Hamilton 
Eowan,  afterwards  the  notorious  Irish  rebel,  was  one 
of  the  students  at  the  Academy.  It  was  in  his  defence 
that  Curran  made  his  famous  eulogium  of  the  British 
law  in  these  words :  "  The  law  which  proclaims  even  to 
the  stranger  and  the  sojourner,  the  moment  he  sets  his 
foot  on  British  earth,  that  the  ground  he  treads  is  holy, 
and  consecrated  by  the  genius  of  universal  emancipa- 
tion." His  biographer  says  that,  while  being  rusticated 
for  misconduct  at  the  University,  he  was  sent  to  War- 
rington ;  and  in  after  years  he  had  been  heard  to  say, 
"  that  Laetitia  Aikin,  afterwards  Mrs.  Barbauld,  was  his 
first  love.  A  declaration  indicative  of 'his  taste  and 
discrimination ;  for  in  mental  and  personal  accomplish- 
ments few,  if  any,  could  vie  with  that  excellent  lady." 
She  appears  to  have  been  much  admired,  and  justly 
so,  by  all  who  knew  her,  even  in  the  morning  of  life, 
when  with  most  minds  that  early  period  is  devoted  to 
trifles  "  light  as  air,"  which  may  amuse,  but  can  hardly 


1769.]  HER   FIRST  POEMS.  33     * 

be  the  incentive  of  admiration.  She  was  gifted  with 
great  personal  and  mental  charms,  an  unusual  and  rare 
union  of  strength,  elegance  and  versatility  of  mind,  and 
wit  and  fancy  in  conversation  and  writing.  Her 
beauty  of  face  and  figure  gave  her  an  added  attraction 
for  those  who  were  so  happy  as  to  have  her  personal 
acquaintance.  She  had  a  remarkable  facility  and  taste 
for  taking  silhouette  portraits,  and  took  the  students, 
tutors,  her  family  and  friends,  in  this  style.  Many  of 
these  likenesses  are  still  preserved  by  her  family. 
There  is  a  very  affectionate  "  Address  "  to  her  brother, 
on  his  removing  from  Warrington  to  pursue  his  medical 
studies  at  Aberdeen ;  this  is  in  manuscript,  now  in 
possession  of  her  family,  and  was  accompanied  by 
three  profiles  of  her  father,  mother,  and  herself. 

The  lines  addressed  by  Miss  Aikin  to  Mrs.  Priestley, 
from  which  I  have  quoted,  were  followed  by  many 
more,  and  some  of  her  finest  poems  were  written  dur- 
ing her  life  at  Warrington.  In  1769,  Miss  Aikin 
visited  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Priestley  at  Leeds,  and  with  them 
and  other  friends  in  the  neighborhood  passed  the  larger 
part  of  that  summer.  During  this  visit  she  wrote 
many  beautiful  poems,  several  of  them  being  suggested 
by  incidents  winch  occurred  to  call  them  forth  and 
rouse  her  fancy.  "  The  Mouse's  Petition,"  which  is  a 
well-known  and  favorite  production  of  its  author,  owed 
its  origin  to  the  following  circumstances,  which  may 
2*  c 


34  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  II. 

interest  the  reader.  The  story  is  well  related  by  Mr. 
William  Turner,  in  a  brief  contemporaneous  notice  of 
Mrs.  Barbauld  at  the  time  of  her  death.  I  use  his 
words :  "  Dr.  Priestley,  from  the  vicinity  of  his  resi- 
dence to  a  large  brewery,  had  been  led  to  notice  the 
suffocating  vapor  which  is  extricated  in  the  process  of 
fermentation  (now  so  well  known  as  the  carbonic  acid 
gas,  but  then  denominated  by  Dr.  Black  fixed  air,  and 
by  Dr.  Rutherford  nephitic  air) ;  this  circumstance, 
happily  for  science,  further  led  him  to  that  train  of 
discoveries  which  gave  rise  to  pneumatic  chemistry, 
and  immortalized  his  name  among  philosophers.  In 
the  midst  of  these  investigations  Miss  Aikin  found 
him.  He  was  then,  as  he  says  in  his  letter  to  Gibbon 
he  afterwards  continued  to  be  at  Birmingham,  totus  in 
illis.  In  the  course  of  these  investigations  the  suffo- 
cating nature  of  various  gases  required  to  be  deter- 
mined, and  no  more  easy  or  unexceptionable  way  of 
making  such  experiments  could  be  devised,  than  the 
reserving  of  these  little  victims  of  domestic  economy, 
which  were  thus  at  least  as  easily  and  as  speedily  put 
out  of  existence  as  by  any  of  the  more  usual  modes. 
It  happened  that  a  captive  was  brought  in  after  sup- 
per, too  late  for  any  experiment  to  be  made  with  it 
that  night,  and  the  servant  was  desired  to  set  it  by  till 
the  next  morning.  Xext  morning  it  was  brought  in 
after  brea'kfast,  with  its   petition  twisted  among   the 


1769.]  "THE   MOUSE'S   PETITION."  35 

■wires  of  its  cage."  We  need  hardly  add  that  the  po- 
etical genius  of  the  mouse  prevailed,  and  in  virtue  of 
its  kind  friend's  petition  it  was  set  free,  perhaps  to 
learn  wisdom  and  shun  traps. 

Dr.  Priestley  wrote  in  his  Memoirs :  "  Mrs.  Barbauld 
has  told  me  that  it  was  the  perusal  of  some  verses  of 
mine  that  first  induced  her  to  write  anything  in  verse  ; 
so  that  this  country  is  in  some  measure  indebted  to  me 
for  one  of  the  best  poets  it  can  boast.  Several  of  her 
first  poems  were  written  while  she  was  in  my  house, 
on  occasions  that  occurred  while  she  was  there."  This 
jeu  d'esprit  will  connect  her  with  the  great  student  of 
pneumatic  chemistry  as  a  friend,  and  indicates  the 
tenderness  of  her  feeling  and  fancy.  But  there  were 
higher  flights  of  imagination  and  poetry,  and  nobler 
themes  for  her  vivid  perception  of  the  sublime  and 
beautiful,  and  one  of  these  gave  rise  to  her  beautiful 
poem,  "  The  Address  to  the  Deity."  This  was  probably 
one  of  those  which  Dr.  Priestley  thought  of  when  he 
wrote  these  lines  in  his  "  Memoir."  This  grand  and 
highly  devotional  poem  was  written  under  peculiar 
circumstances.  Miss  Aikin  was  then  visiting  at  the 
house  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Turner,  minister  of  a  Dissenting 
congregation  in  Wakefield,  near  Leeds,  and  in  connec- 
tion with  whom  some  of  Dr.  Priestley's  publications 
on  his  researches  were  carried  on.  In  the  following 
extract    from  Dr.  Priestley's  Preface   to  his   two  dis- 


36  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  IT. 

courses,  the  first  on  "  Habitual  Devotion "  and  the 
other  on  "The  Duty  of  not  Living  to  Ourselves,"  first 
published  in  1782,  he  states:  "To  the  former  of  these 
discourses  the  public  are  already  under  considerable 
obligations,  though  they  have  been  ignorant  of  it,  as  it 
was  the  occasion  of  that  excellent  poem  of  Mrs.  Bar- 
bauld's  entitled  '  An  Address  to  the  Deity,'  which  was 
composed  immediately  after  the  first  delivery  of  it  be- 
fore an  assembly  of  ministers  at  Wakefield,  in  Yorkshire, 
in  the  year  1769.  Were  I  to  inform  my  readers  how 
soon  the  poem  appeared  after  the  delivery  of  the  dis- 
course, it  would  add  much  to  their  idea  of  the  powers 
of  the  writer.  I  could  make  the  same  observation  with 
respect  to  several  other  pieces,  and  some  of  the  most 
admired  in  that  collection."  He  then  quoted  from  it 
several  portions  of  the  poem  which  he  considered  pe- 
culiarly suitable  and  appropriate  for  the  purpose,  and 
so  closed  his  Preface.  Many  years  after  Mrs.  Barbauld's 
death,  Miss  Lucy  Aikin,  in  writing  to  her  friend  Dr. 
Channing,  of  Boston,  U.  S.  A.,  says,  "  I  have  a  vivid 
memory  of  Priestley,  the  friend  of  my  father,  the  dearer 
and  more  intimate  friend  of  my  aunt,  Mrs.  Barbauld. 
....  My  aunt  has  said  of  him,  with  as  much  truth 
as  brilliancy,  that  he  followed  truth  as  a  man  who 
hawks  follows  his  sport,  —  at  full  speed,  straight  for- 
ward, looking  only  upward,  and  regardless  into  what 
difficulties  the  chase  may  lead  him." 


1770.]  t  VERSES   TO   A   CHILD.  37 

When  Miss  Aikin  left  the  friendly  and  hospitable 
home  of  Mr.  Turner,  she  placed  in  the  hands  of  his 
little  son,  a  child  seven  years  of  age,  the  writer  of 
the  sketch  to  which  I  refer  and  have  already  quoted 
from,  "  an  ivory  memorandum-book,  on  the  leaves  of 
which,  after  she  was  gone,  were  found  written  the  fol- 
lowing lines."  They  contain  a  beautiful  tribute  to  the 
virtues  and  character  of  the  elder  Mr.  Turner,  and  are 
so  pretty  and  playfully  impressive  that  he  printed 
them :  — 

"  Accept,  my  dear,  this  toy,  and  let  me  say, 
The  leaves  an  emblem  of  your  mind  display. 
Your  youthful  mind,  uncolored,  pure,  and  white, 
Like  crystal  leaves,  transparent  to  the  sight, 
Fit  each  impression  to  receive  whate'er 
The  finger  of  instruction  traces  there. 
0,  then  transcribe  into  the  shining  page 
Each  virtue  that  adorns  your  tender  age  ; 
And  grave  upon  the  tablet  of  your  heart 
Each  lofty  science  and  each  useful  art  ! 

"But,  with  the  likeness,  mark  the  difference  well, 
Nor  think  complete  the  hasty  parallel*. 
These  leaves  by  folly  scrawled,  or  foul  with  stains, 
A  drop  of  water  clears  with  little  pains  ; 
But  from  a  blotted  mind  the  smallest  trace 
Not  seas  of  bitter  tears  can  e'er  efface,  — 
The  spreading  mark  forever  will  remain, 
And  rolling  years  but  deepen  every  stain. 

"  Once  more  one  difference  let  me  still  explain  : 
The  vacant  leaves  thus  ever  will  remain, 


38  LIFE   OF   MRS.    BARBAULD.  [Chap.  II. 

Till- some  officious  hand  the  tablet  fill 

With  sense  or  nonsense,  prose  or  rhyme,  at  will. 

Not  so  your  mind  without  your  forming  care  ; 

Nature  forbids  an  idle  vacuum  there  ; 

Folly  will  plant  her  tares  without  your  toil, 

And  weeds  spring  up  in  the  neglected  soil. 

"  But  why  to  you  this  moralizing  strain  ? 
Vain  is  the  precept,  and  the  caution  vain,  — 
To  you,  whose  opening  virtues  bloom  so  fair, 
And  well  reward  the  prudent  planter's  care,  — 
As  some  young  tree,  by  generous  juices  fed, 
Above  its  fellows  lifts  its  towering  head, 
"Whose  proud,  auspicious  shoots  incessant  rise, 
And  every  day  grows  nearer  to  the  skies. 

"  Yet  should  kind  heaven  thy  opening  mind  adorn, 
And  bless  thy  noon  of  knowledge  as  thy  morn,  — 
Yet  were  thy  mind  with  every  science  blest, 
And  every  virtue  glowing  in  thy  breast, 
"With  learning,  meekness,  and  with  candor,  zeal, 
Clear  to  discern,  and  generous  to  feel,  — 
Yet  should  the  graces  o'er  thy  breast  diffuse 
The  softer  influence  of  the  polish  muse,  — 
'T  is  no  original,  the  world  will  tell, 
And  all  your  praise  is  but  to  copy  well. 


1771.]  LETTERS   TO   FAMILY   AN'D   FRIENDS.  39 


CHAPTEE    III. 

Letters  to  Family  and  Friends.  —  John  Amor,  M.D.  — His  Return 
to  Warrington.  —  His  Literary  Productions.  —  Prepares  his 
Sister's  Poems  for  Publication.  —  Poems  printed  in  '  1773.  — 
Address  to  the  Corsicans.  —  Miscellaneous  Pieces  collected 
and  published  in  1773.  —  Remarks  of  Fox.  —  Criticism  of  Dr. 
Johnson  on  the  Imitation  of  his  Style.  — Essay  in  the  "Chris- 
tian Reformer." 

MISS  AIKIX  says  of  her  aunt's  letters  that  they 
"  were  certainly  never  intended  by  herself  to 
meet  the  public  eye  " ;  she  adds,  however,  that  it  was 
"  impossible  not  to  be  influenced  also  by  the  desire  of 
thus  communicating  to  those  admirers  of  Mrs.  Bar- 
bauld's  genius  who  did  not  enjoy  the  advantage  of  her 
personal  acquaintance  a  just  idea  of  the  pointed  and 
elegant  remark,  the  sportive  and  lambent  wit,  the  affec- 
tionate spirit  of  sympathy,  and  the  courteous  expres- 
sions of  esteem  and  benevolence,  which  united  to  form 
at  once  the  graces  of  her  epistolary  style  and  the  inex- 
pressible charm  of  her  conversation."  Her  first  letter 
placed  before  the  reader  is  dated  1771,  and  is  addressed 
to  her  life-long  friend,  Miss  Belsham,  afterwards  Mrs. 


40  LIFE  OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  III. 

Kenrick.  The  letters  are  certainly  charming,  and  full 
of  life  and  spirit ;  several  of  them  have  in  them  allegori- 
cal tales  and  jeu  d 'esprit  in  their  writer's  best  and  inim- 
itable manner,  and  all  add  much  to  her  reputation  for 
mind,  heart,  and  the  highest -degree  of  culture  and  ele- 
gance. Cheap  postage  had  not  reduced  letter- writing 
to  the  slight  and  hasty  work  now  given  it  as  a  rule,  and 
a  letter  might  be  as  elaborate  as  possible  without  excit- 
ing either  surprise  from  the  receiver  or  apology  from 
the  writer  for  its  length.  Letters  of  that  time  have 
therefore,  and  always  must  have,  an  interest  for  the  pub- 
lic, as  the  natural,  full,  and  personal  record  of  feelings 
and  events,  and  as  first  impressions  of  men  and  women. 
.If  an  ordinary  letter- writer  can  so  interest,  what  shall 
be  said  of  the  fascination  and  attraction  which  a  supe- 
rior mind  and  animated  fancy  throw  over  a  corre- 
spondence ?  The  letters  of  Mrs.  Barbauld  deserve  to 
rank  with  the  first  and  best  the  world  has  yet  seen,  and 
the  only  thing  to  be  regretted  is  the  limit  to  their 
number.  Those  we  have  must,  however,  afford  excel- 
lent specimens  of  her  style,  and  undoubtedly  are  among 
the  best  and  choicest  of  her  letters,  and  were  kept  by 
her  friends  with  that  feeling. 

Letter  to  Miss  E.  Belsham,  afterwards  Mrs.  Kenrick. 

London,  February,  1771. 
Believe  me,  my  dear  Betsy,  my  heart  has  some  time  re- 
proached me  for  being  in  your   debt I  am   much 


1771.]  LETTER  TO   MISS   BELSHAM.  41 

obliged  to  you  for  your  kind  invitation  to  Bedford ;  cer- 
tainly, few  things  would  give  me  more  pleasure  than  convers- 
ing with  my  Betsy ;  but  it  will  not  be  in  my  power  to  reach 
Bedford  this  time.  I  have  already  been  so  long  from  home 
that  they  begin  to  be  impatient  for  my  return,  and  I  would 
not  trespass  too  far  upon  their  goodness,  who,  I  am  sen- 
sible, in  some  measure  deny  themselves  in  being  with- 
out me. 

Patty  and  I  are  now  with  Mrs.  K.  She  and  I  are  great 
walkers,  and  in  fine  weather  often  stroll  about  almost  all  the 
morning ;  but  we  have  very  little  to  do  with  visiting  any 
public  places  except  the  playhouses,  where  we  have  been 
three  or  four  times.  Last  night  we  saw  the  "  West- Indian,"  a 
very  pretty  play,  as  we  thought  on  reading  it ;  but  the  char- 
acters are  so  ill  cast,  that  we  had  not  half  the  pleasure  in  see- 
ing it.  One  part,  indeed,  the  Irishman,  was  excellently 
done,  but  that  was  the  only  one ;  I  think  they  seem  to  want 
actors  very  much  for  easy,  genteel  characters,  which  are 
more  difficult  to  support  than  mimicry  or  strong-marked 
passions.  The  chaste  and  delicate  sensibilities  of  a  young, 
unpractised  heart,  or  the  decorums  of  a  virtuous  character, 
must  be  very  difficult  to  assume ;  and,  indeed,  there  are  so 
many  qualifications  requisite  to  make  a  perfect  actor,  it  is 
almost  a  pity  one  possessed  of  them  should  follow  the  profes- 
sion ;  nor  is  it  surprising  there  should  be  but  one  upon  the 

stage  at  once I  admire  Mrs.  K.  beyond  most  women 

I  know,  that,  engaged  as  she  is  by  matrimonial  connections, 
she  is  not  engrossed  by  them,  but  has  a  heart  as  open  to 
every  other  endearing  relation  and  frieDdly   sentiment  as 


42  LIFE   OF   MRS.   BAEBAULD.  [Chap.  III. 

ever.  It  is  not  true,  what  Dr.  Fordyce  insinuates,  that 
women's  friendships  are  not  sincere ;  I  am  sure  it  is  not.  I 
remember  when  I  read  it  I  had  a  good  mind  to  have  burnt 
the  book  for  that  unkind  passage.  I  hope  the  doctor  will 
give  us  our  revenge,  as  he  has  begun  his  sermons  to  young 
men;  they  were  advertised  in  the  papers.  Was  it  not  a 
piece  of  parade  unbecoming  a  preacher  ?  It  would  be  diffi- 
cult to  determine  whether  the  age  is  growing  better  or  worse ; 
for  I  think  our  plays  are  growing  like  sermons,  and  our  ser- 
mons like  plays. 

In  the  year  1771,  John  Aikin,  M.  D ,  returned  to 
Warrington  to  settle  himself  there  as  a  physician,  and 
he  soon  discovered  the  merit  and  beauty  of  his  sister's 
poems.  Dr.  Aikin  even  then  displayed  the  correct 
taste,  habits  of  application,  and  literary  industry  which 
are  his  best  claims  to  respect  and  notice  at  the  present 
time.  Without  the  bright  fancy,  playful  wit,  and 
poetic  genius  of  his  sister,  he  was  an  excellent  writer,  a 
careful  compiler,  and  an  essayist  of  good  judgment, 
critical  taste,  and  ability.  He  was  also  an  able  editor, 
and  brought  into  notice,  preparing  with  care  and  dis- 
crimination, many  valuable  and  now  standard  works. 
He  did  some  very  good  work  in  interesting  the  young  in 
nature  by  his  books  on  natural  objects,  of  which  he  was 
a  keen  observer,  and  on  which  he  was  a  pleasant  writer. 
His  "Medical  Memoir"  appeared  in  the  year  1780, 
and  with  his  principal  work,  "  The  General  Biographical 


1772.]  DR.   JOHN   AIKIN.  43 

Dictionary,"  is  of  permanent  value.  For  several  years 
he  edited  the  "  Monthly  Magazine/'  and  contributed  to 
it  a  variety  of  essays  and  articles'  marked  by  his  good 
taste,  sound  judgment,  and  liberality  of  view  and  opin- 
ion. His  "  Evenings  at  Home  "  must  not  be  forgotten 
in  speaking  of  larger  works.  This  book  made  a  little  for- 
tune, it  is  believed,  for  its  original  publisher,  and  has 
gone  through  very  many  editions,  being  one  of  the 
most  enduringly  popular  juvenile  volumes  ever  pro- 
duced. This  was  written  for  the  instruction  and 
amusement  of  his  own  family,  and  in  his  labor  of  love 
Mrs.  Barbauld  participated ;  but  the  larger  share  of  it 
was  his  own. 

To  Miss  Belsham. 

Warrington,  January,  1772. 
I  heard  not  long  ago  a  piece  of  news  which  pleases  me  be- 
yond measure.  Can  you  guess  what  it  is  1  Mrs.  Lewin 
tells  me  that  my  dear  Betsy  intends  coming  to  Lancashire 
soon.  I  hope  these  her  good  intentions  will  speedily  be  put 
in  execution.  If  we  had  you  here,  Patty  and  I  should  be 
as  happy  as  the  day  is  long.  We  have  a  knot  of  lassies  just 
after  your  own  heart,  —  as  merry,  blithe,  and  gay  as  you 
would  wish  them,  and  very  smart  and  clever  ;  two  of  them 
are  the  Misses  Bigby.  We  have  a  ^Vest-Indian  family,  too, 
that  I  think  you  would  like ;  a  young  couple  who  seem  in- 
tended by  nature  for  nothing  but  mirth,  frolic,  and  gayety. 
I  say  nothing  of  our  young  men,  as  I  would  not  flatter  you 


44  LIFE  OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  III. 

with  the  hopes  of  any  conquest,  for  the  aforesaid  damsels 
have  left  no  hearts  to  conquer. 

You  who  love  so  dearly  to  puzzle  other  people,  I  have  a 
puzzle  for  you.  Can  you  find  a  number  of  words  that  will 
take  in  all  the  letters  of  the  alphabet  and  no  more  1  "We 
have  all  been  trying  at  it,  with  Mr.  Enfield's  assistance,  a 
long  time  j  if  you  can  accomplish  it,  we  kiss  the  hem  of 
your  garment. 

Soon  after  Dr.  Aikin's  return  to  Warrington,  he  un- 
dertook the  selection,  revision,  and  arrangement  of  his 
sister's  poems  for  the  press ;  and,  when  all  the  prepara- 
tory steps  had  been  taken,  finding  her  still  reluctant  to 
appear  before  the  public  as  an  author,  he  himself  pro- 
cured the  paper  for  the  book,  and  had'  it  put  into  type. 
It  soon  appeared,  and  the  result  fully  justified  his  antici- 
pations, for  the  book  went  through  four  editions  in  the 
first  year  of  its  publication,  1773 ;  the  first  edition 
being  in  quarto,  the  other  three  being  issued  in  octavo 
form.  I  have  before  me  a  copy  which  formed  one  of 
the  first  edition ;  it  is  a  handsome  quarto  volume,  and 
bears  the  imprint  of  the  Warrington  Press,  though  pub- 
lished by  Joseph  Johnson  of  St.  Paul's  Churchyard,  — 
one  who  should  be  remembered  as  a  kindly  and  encour- 
aging man  of  business,  and  an  excellent  friend  to  many 
authors  of  the  day.  The  work  was  dedicated  to  Lady 
Mary  West,  in  compliance  with  the  fashion  of  the  time, 
which  almost  demanded  such  tribute  to  titled  patron- 


1773.]  POEM   OX   CORSICA.  45 

age ;  and  we  must  not  wonder  at  an  almost  unknown 
and  comparatively  friendless  author  recognizing  this 
custom,  when  we  call  to  mind  the  weary  waiting  of  the 
great  Dr.  Johnson  for  the  smile  of  Lord  Chesterfield  on 
his  Dictionary,  and  his  at  last  freeing  himself  from  pat- 
ronage by  the  indignation  he  felt  at  the  neglect  and 
contemptuous  treatment  he  received  in  his  noble  would- 
be  patron's  waiting-room.  The  book  contains  many  of 
her  short  poems,  and  one  longer  and  more  powerful  in 
its  theme  and  treatment,  — that  on  Corsica.  Numerous 
editions  of  the  poems  attest  to  the  popularity  of  the 
collection,  and  we  are  told  by  Miss  Lucy  Aikin  that  the 
critics  treated  it  favorably,  and  gave  it  their  meed  of 
praise. 

The  poem  on  Corsica  was  written  in  1769.  James 
Boswell  had  recently  made  his  visit  to  that  island,  as 
he  tells  us  in  his  Life  of  Dr.  Johnson ;  and  the  fruits  of 
his  visit  were  embodied  in  this  volume,  published  by 
him  after  his  return,  entitled  "  Corsica,"  a  work  which 
gained  for  him  a  considerable  amount  of  notice  in  liter- 
ary circles  in  London,  and  gave  him  for  many  years  the 
name  of  "  Corsica  Boswell "  among  those  who  knew 
him  personally  and  by  repute.  Miss  Aikin  begins  her 
poem,  — 

"  Hail,  generous  Corsica  !  unconquered  isle  ! 
The  fort  of  freedom ;  that  amidst  the  waves 
Stands  like  a  rock  of  adamant,  and  dares 
The  wildest  fury  of  the  storm." 


46  LIFE   OF   MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  III. 

Continuing  her  apostrophe  to  the  island  and  islanders, 
she  then  alludes  to  the  traveller :  — 

"  Such  were  the  working  thoughts  which  swelled  the  breast 
Of  generous  Boswell,  when  with  nobler  aim 
And  views  beyond  the  narrow,  beaten  track 
By  trivial  fancy  trod,  he  turned  his  course 
From  polished  Gallia's  soft,  delicious  vales, 
From  the  gray  reliques  of  imperial  Rome, 
From  her  long  galleries  of  laureled  stone, 
Her  chiseled  heroes  and  her  marble  gods, 
"Whose  dumb,  majestic  pomp  yet  awes  the  world 
To  animated  forms  of  patriot  zeal ; 
"Warm  in  the  living  majesty  of  virtue  ; 
Elate  with  fearless  spirit ;  firm  ;  resolved  ; 
By  fortune  nor  subdued,  nor  awed  by  power." 

She  then  describes  the  beauty  and  grandeur  of  the 
island,  its 

"  Mountains,  brown  with  solemn  shade 
Of  various  trees,  that  wave  their  giant  arms 
O'er  the  rough  sons  of  freedom  "  ; 

the  impetuous  streams  that  rush  down  their  sides ;  the 

"Deep  indented  shores, 
And  pointed  cliffs,  which  hear  the  chafing  deep 
Incessant  foaming  round  their  shaggy  sides  "  ; 

the  luxuriant  vegetation  which  clothes  tins  lovely  but 
unhappy  island,  torn  with  strife, 

"  "With  living  verdure  ;  savage  forests  awful  deep," 

and  the  herds  of  cattle  which  roam  them  untamed  and 


1773.]  POEM   ON   CORSICA.  47 

free ;   all  these  wild,  majestic,  natural  objects  attract 
the  spirit  of  freedom. 

"Liberty, 

The  mountain  Goddess,  loves  to  range  at  large 

Amid  such  scenes,  and  on  the  iron  soil 

Print  her  majestic  step.     For  these  she  scorns 

The  green  enameled  vales," 

and  softer  scenes  of  other  Southern  climes,  and  marked 

"  This  isle  emerging  like  a  beauteous  gem 
From  the  dark  bosom  of  the  Tyrrhene  Main  " 

for  her  own  possession  and  seat  of  abode. 

The  long,  unequal  struggle  for  freedom  is  related,  how, 
"  still  unquelled," 

"  Her  genuine  sons  — 
A  broken  remnant  from  the  generous  stock 
Of  ancient  Greece,  from  Sparta's  sad  remains  " — 

have  maintained  the  hard  conflict  for  liberty  with 

"  Haughty  Genoa  and  ambitious  Gaul." 

She  feels  confident  of  their  ultimate  success  and  victory 
over  their  oppressors,  and  sees  in  Paoli 

4 'The  Man 
Born  to  exalt  his  own,  and  give  mankind 
A  glimpse  of  higher  natures  ";  * 

and  she  closes  a  glowing  tribute  to  him  with  these 
lines,  — 

"  The  man  devoted  to  the  public,  stands 
In  the  bright  records  of  superior  worth 
A  step  below  the  skies  ;  if  he  succeed, 


48  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  III. 

The  first  fair  lot  which  earth  affords,  is  his  ; 
And  if  he  falls,  he  falls  above  a  throne. 
"When  such  their  leader,  can  the  brave  despair, 
Freedom  the  cause,  and  Paoli  the  chief  !  " 

"A  British  muse"  bids  them  to  hope,  and  urges 
them  to  patience  and  boldness,  painting  the  fruits  of 
perseverance  and  final  victory,  and  indicates  to  them, 
if  their  cause  is  gained,  the  long  years  of  prosperity  to 
the  country  and  fame  to  him  who  led  them  in  their 
attempt. 

"  Some  muse, 
More  worthy  of  the  theme,  shall  consecrate 
To  after-ages,  and  applauding  worlds 
Shall  bless  the  godlike  man  who  saved  his  country." 

Here  occurs  a  sudden  break  in  the  poem,  and  after 
the  failure  of  the  efforts  of  the  islands  to  throw  off 
their  galling  foreign  yoke,  Miss  Aikin  continued  it :  — 

"  So  vainly  wished,  so  fondly  hoped  the  Muse  : 
Too  fondly  hoped.     The  iron  fates  prevail, 
And  Cyrnus  is  no  more.     Her  generous  sons, 
Less  vanquished  than  o'erwhelmed,  by  numbers  crushed, 
Admired,,  unaided  fell.     So  strives  the  moon 
In  dubious  battle  with  the  gathering  clouds, 
And  strikes  a  splendor  through  them  ;  till  at  length 
Storms  rolled  on  storms  involve  the  face  of  heaven 
And  quench  her  struggling  fires.    .  Forgive  the  zeal 
That,  too  presumptuous,  whispered  better  things, 
And  read  the  book  of  destiny  amiss. 
Not  with  the  purple  coloring  of  success 
Is  virtue  best  adorned  :  the  attempt  is  praise. 


1773.]  "THE   GROANS   OF   THE   TANKARD."  49 

There  yet  remains  a  freedom,  nobler  far 
Than  kings  or  senates  can  destroy  or  give  ; 
Beyond  the  proud  oppressor's  cruel  grasp 
Seated  secure,  uninjured,  undestroyed  ; 
Worthy  of  gods:  —  the  freedom  of  the  mind." 

The  length  alone  of  this  fine  and  inspiring  address 
to  the  Corsicans  prevented  its  being  placed  among  the 
other  Works ;  but  the  extracts  I  have  given  will  show 
its  style  and  spirit. 

The  poem,  "  The  Groans  of  the  Tankard,"  was  called 
forth  by  the  remark  of  a  gentleman  who  was  dining 
with  her  father,  Dr.  Aikin,  and  commented  on  the 
degradation  to  which  he  subjected  a  large  old  family 
tankard  which  stood  upon  the  sideboard  filled  with 
water,  after  having  so  many  years  been  used  for  more 
generous  liquors.  His  remarks  on  the  noble  old  vessel 
and  its  modern  usage  occasioned  the  verses,  supposed 
to  be  the  groans  it  uttered  at  its  unhappiness. 

To  Miss  Belsham. 

Wakrington,  January  1,  1773 . 
Not  in  charity  with  me,  forsooth  !  So  you  would  pretend 
you  never  received  a  letter  from  me  a  great  while  ago,  in 
answer  to  your  last !  A  letter,  madam,  written  with  such 
purity  of  style,  such  admirable  brevity  and  perspicuity,  that 
I  am  confident  there  was  not  a  sentence  of  it  you  would 
wish  omitted,  or  that  the  severest  critic  would  object  to. 


50  ■  LIFE   OF   MRS.    BARBAULD.  [Chap.  III. 

Well,  if  you  will  fancy  I  am  still  in  your  debt,  I  must  make 
haste  and  get  out  of  it  as  fast  as  I  can. 

We  are  preparing  to  celebrate  the  birthday  of  —  a  prince, 
shall  I  say  1  why  not  1  a  king,  if  you  please,  since  he  has 
more  power  than  any  monarch  in  the  universe,  and  we  all 
expect  blessings  from  him  of  more  value  than  the  Indies  ; 
perhaps,  indeed,  we  may  expect  too  much  from  him,  for  it 
is  natural  to  hope  for  everything  under  the  auspices  of  a 
new  king ;  and,  however  we  may  have  been  disappointed  by 
his  predecessors,  we  fondly  natter  ourselves  that  the  young 
sovereign  will  crown  all  our  hopes,  and  put  us  in  possession 
of  all  our  wishes.  Blessings,  invaluable  ones,  he  certainly 
has  in  his  disposal ;  but  if  we  have  wasted  the  bounties  of 
his  predecessors,  would  it  not  become  us  to  mingle  a  tear  to 
their  memories  with  the  joy  which  his  accession  inspires  1 
May  the  present  reign,  however,  be  happy  to  you  and  me 
and  all  of  us ;  long,  I  dare  not  add,  except  in  good  actions, 
because,  young  as  the  prince  is,  it  is  no  presumption  to  say 
that  his  days  are  numbered ;  the  astronomers  have  already 
cast  his  nativity,  nor  is  it  in  the  power  of  all  the  sons  of 
Adam  to  prolong  beyond  the  appointed  term,  though  but 
for  an  hour,  the  life  of  —  the  New  Year. 

The  success  of  Miss  Aikin's  poems  induced  her  to 
collect  her  prose  articles;  and  with  her  brother  she 
published  a  small  volume  in  1773,  under  the  title  of 
"  Miscellaneous  Pieces  in  Prose,"  by  J.  and  L.  Aikin. 
Miss  Lucy  Aikin  says  that  several  of  these  essays  were 


1773.]  PUBLISHES   PROSE   ESSAYS.  51 

wrongly  attributed  to  Mrs.  Barbauld,  while  some  of 
hers  were  supposed  to  be  the  work  of  her  brother ;  and 
she  especially  mentions  the  fragment  "Sir  Bertrand," 
which  was  ascribed  to  her,  though  in  reality  it  was  by 
Dr.  Aikin.  This  error  was  the  result  of  their  having 
printed  the  articles  intentionally  without  distinguish- 
ing them  by  their  signatures.  This  plan  led  to  some 
curious  mistakes.  Bogers  in  his  "Table-Talk"  gives 
an  anecdote  apropos:  "At  a  dinner-party  where  I  was, 
Fox  met  Aikin.  '  I  am  greatly  pleased  with  your  Mis- 
cellaneous Pieces,  Mr.  Aikin,'  said  Fox  (alluding  to  the 
volume  written  partly  by  Aikin  and  partly  by  his 
sister,  Mrs.  Barbauld).  Aikin  bowed.  '  I  particularly 
admire,'  continued  Fox,  '  your  essay,  Against  Inconsist- 
ency in  our  Expectations!  'That,'  replied  Akin,  'is 
my  sister's.'  '  I  like  much/  returned  Fox,  '  your  essay, 
On  Monastic  Institutions!  'That,'  answered  Aikin, 'is 
also  my  sister's.'"  Mr.  Bogers  adds,  "Fox  thought  it 
best  to  say  no  more  about  the  book."  In  fact,  Dr. 
Aikin's  share  in  the  book  was  the  least  important  and 
valuable  one;  the  finest  and  most  interesting  articles 
were  Miss  Aikin's,  and  rather  threw  his  into  the  shade 
by  their  greater  brilliancy,  depth  of  thought,  and  strength 
of  reasoning. 

The  essays  which  were  her  work  are  as  follows : 
"On  Monastic  Institutions";  "An  Inquiry  into  those 
Kinds  of  Distress  which  excite  Agreeable  Sensations," 


52  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  III. 

with  a  tale ;  "  Selania,  An  Imitation  of  Ossian " ; 
"  Against  Inconsistency  in  our  Expectations  "  ;  "  The 
Hill  of  Science  "  ;  "  An  Essay  on  Devotional  Taste  "  ; 
"  On  Romances,"  which  last  was  professedly  an  imita- 
tion of  Dr.  Johnson's  thought  and  mode  of  expression. 
He  himself,  in  talking  with  Boswell,  said  he  felt  this  to 
be  the  best  attempt  made  by  any  one  to  imitate  his 
peculiar  style.  Boswell  had  observed  to  him  that  Dr. 
Hugh  Blair  had  "animadverted  on  the  Johnsonian 
style  as  too  pompous,  and  had  attempted  to  imitate 
it  by  giving  a  sentence  of  Addison"  in  the  manner  of 
Johnson.  He  then  cited  the  original  passage  and  Dr. 
Blair's  alteration  in  it ;  this  did  not  please  Dr.  Johnson, 
who  rejoined,  "  Sir,  these  are  not  the  words  I  should 
have  used.  No,  sir ;  the  imitators  of  my  style  have  not 
hit  it.  Miss  Aikin  has  done  it  the  best ;  for  she  has 
imitated  the  sentiment  as  well  as  the  diction."  Mr. 
Croker,  in  a  foot-note  to  his  edition  of  Boswell,  adds  that 
the  imitation  was  "  probably  in  an  essay,  '  Against  In- 
consistency in  our  Expectations '  "  ;  but  we  have  Miss 
Lucy  Aikin's  authority  for  naming  the  essay  "On 
Romances  "  as  her  aunt's  imitation  of  the  great  essayist 
and  dictionary-maker. 

In  the  "Christian  Reformer"'  for  1853,  there  ap- 
peared a  short  essay  by  Miss  Aikin,  entitled  "The 
Vision  of  Anna,  the  Daughter  of  Haikim  (an  un- 
edited parable)."     This  first  appeared  in  the  "  Christian 


1773.]  THE   CORPORATION   AND   TEST   ACTS.  53 

Miscellany"  in  1792.  It  is  there  called  "A  Chapter 
of  Modern  Apocrypha,"  and  was  written  in  the  year 
1773.  The  occasion  of  this  now  almost  unknown  pro- 
duction of  its  author  was  the  disapprobation  expressed 
by  thirteen  Scotch  Presbyterian  ministers,  in  1773,  at  the 
renewal  of  an  application  to  Parliament  by  the  Protes- 
tant Dissenting  ministers.  These  men  denied  the  need 
of  help  or  of  freedom  from  Subscription  to  the  Estab- 
lishment, and  the  writer  represents  them  in  this  par- 
able as  the  Little  Sister  who  loved  not  the  Light,  and 
sat  by  preference  in  darkness.  This  pointed  and  spir- 
ited little  article  would  have  formed  an  appropriate 
companion  to  the  author's  eloquently  indignant  "  Ad- 
dress to  the  Opposers  of  the  Eepeal  of  the  Corporation 
and  Test  Acts."  At  present  the  subjects  of  these  articles 
no  longer  interest  the  public,  though  the  treatment  of 
the  theme  is  forcible,  impressive,  and  animated. 


54  LIFE   OF   MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  IV. 


CHAPTEE   IY. 

Marriage.  —  Mr.  Barbauld's  Parentage  and  Family.  —  Reply  to 
Mrs.  Montague  and  Others.  —  Mr.  Barbauld  settles  at  Pal- 
grave.  —  They  open  a  School  in  that  Town.  —  Success  of  the 
Enterprise.  —  Mrs.  Barbauld's  Method  of  Instruction.  —  Dr. 
Sayers's  Remembrance  of  the  Lessons  given  by  her.  —  William 
Taylor,  of  Norwich,  one  of  the  Scholars.  —  Letters  to  her 
Brother,  with  Account  of  the  School,  and  her  Interest  in 
the  Lessons  and  Amusements  of  the  Boys. 

IN  May,  1774,  Miss  Aikin  married  the  Eev.  Koche- 
mont  Barbauld ;  an  event  which  made  an  impor- 
tant change  in  her  pursuits,  and  gave  her  an  active  and 
rather  arduous  and  engrossing  participation  in  the  edu- 
cation, mental  activity,  and  growth  of  thought  of  very 
young  children.  Mr.  Barbauld  was  descended  from  a 
French  Protestant  family  settled  in  England.  During 
the  persecutions  of  the  Protestants  by  Louis  XIV.,  his 
grandfather,  "  then  a  boy,  was  carried  on  board  a  ship, 
enclosed  in  a  cask,  and  conveyed  to  England."  He 
settled  himself  in  that  country,  married  there,  and  had 
a  son  who  took  orders  in  the  Established  Church.  On 
the  marriage  of  one  of  the  daughters  of  George  II.  to 


1774.]  HER  MARRIAGE.  55 

the  Elector  of  Hesse,  he  received  an  appointment  as 
chaplain  in  her  household,  went  with  her  in  the  pur- 
suance of  his  duties,  and  made  one  of  her  establish- 
ment at  Cassel.  His  son  Eochemont  was  born  and 
passed  his  early  life  there.  On  the  return  of  his  father 
to  England,  when  the  household  of  the  Electress  was 
broken  up,  he  went  with  him,  remaining  a  year  in  Paris 
on  their  way  to  England.  After  their  arrival  he  was 
sent  by  his  father  to  the  academy  at  Warrington. 
There  he  first  met  Miss  Aikin,  and  soon  became  in- 
terested in  her.  The  rather  unwise  course  of  his  father 
in  sending  a  son,  who  he  hoped  would  follow  in  his 
footsteps  by  entering  the  Established  Church,  to  a  Dis- 
senting academy,  was  attended  by  the  natural  conse- 
quence, that  he  became  a  Dissenter,  and  could  not 
conscientiously  fulfil  his  father's  expectations  and  an- 
ticipations for  his  future  career  in  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land. He  changed  his  views,  and  began  to  fit  himself 
for  the  position  of  a  Presbyterian  preacher.  For  some 
time  want  of  advancement  in  his  profession  delayed  his 
marriage  ;  but,  on  receiving  a  call  from  a  small  Dissent- 
ing congregation  at  Palgrave,  near  Diss,  in  Suffolk,  he 
accepted  it,  and  also  undertook  the  care  and  manage- 
ment of  a  boarding-school  for  boys.  This  arrangement 
soon  proved  most  satisfactory,  and  their  ultimate  suc- 
cess was  complete.  Before  their  marriage,  while  their 
plans  were  uncertain,  and  they  were  considering  what 


56  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  IV. 

might  be  done  to  increase  the  small  income  which  he 
would  receive  as  a  preacher,  a  proposal  was  made  by 
some  friends  of  Miss  Aikin  who  were  interested  in 
her  future  career,  and  they  offered  her  a  project  for 
consideration.  These  persons  were  advocates  of  a  more 
extended  and  elevated  system  of  education  for  women, 
and  invited  the  co-operation  of  Miss  Aikin  in  their 
plan,  under  their  patronage  and  support.  Well  aware 
that  the  name  of  Miss  Aikin  would  be  a  sufficient  and 
undoubted  guaranty  for  its  success,  from  her  high 
reputation  for  good  judgment,  intelligence,  and  noble 
principles,  they  applied  to  her  to  assume  the  charge 
and  instruction  of  an  academy  or  college  for  young 
ladies.  Among  the  proposers  of  this  scheme  was  Mrs. 
Elizabeth  Montague. 

In  a  letter  of  reply  to  them,  Miss  Aikin  gave  them 
her  own  views  on  higher  education  for  women,  and  some 
of  the  objections  to  the  system  of  study  proposed  for 
them,  with  great  good  sense  and  simplicity.  At  the 
present  day  some  of  her  reasons  against  a  more  ex- 
tended course  of  learning  for  women  may  not  be  equally 
cogent;  but  her  statement  is  worthy  of  note  as  the 
opinion  of  a  finely  educated,  intelligent,  intellectual 
woman,  who  wTas  an  ornament  to  her  age  and  sex.  On 
the  whole,  with  slight  modifications,  her  reasoning  is  as 
just  and  sound  for  the  present  time  as  it  was  then,  and 
is   deserving   of  calm  consideration  as  the  view  of  a 


1774.]  OX   THE   EDUCATION   OF   WOMEN.  57 

thoroughly  educated  woman  on  the  subject.  Her  ob- 
jections to  the  plan  naturally  influenced  the  advocates 
of  it,  and  it  was  abandoned  as  impracticable.  I  give 
her  answer  to  the  proposal. 

"  A  kind  of  literary  academy  for  ladies  (for  that  is  what 
you  seem  to  propose),  where  they  are  to  be  taught  in  a  regu- 
lar, systematic  manner  the  various  branches  of  science, 
appears  to  me  better  calculated  to  form  such  characters  as 
the  Precieuses  or  the  Femmes  sgavantes  of  Moliere  than 
good  wives  or  agreeable  companions.  Young  gentlemen, 
who  are  to  display  their  knowledge  to  the  world,  should 
have  every  motive  of  emulation,  should  be  formed  into 
regular  classes,  should  read  and  dispute  together,  should 
have  all  the  honors,  and,  if  one  may  say  so,  the  pomp  of 
learning  set  before  them,  to  call  up  their  ardor.  It  is  their 
business,  and  they  should  apply  to  it  as  such.  But  yOung 
ladies,  who  ought  only  to  have  such  a  general  tincture  of 
knowledge  as  to  make  them  agreeable  companions  to  a  man 
of  sense,  and  to  enable  them  to  find  rational  amusement  for 
a  solitary  hour,  should  gain  these  accomplishments  in  a 
more  quiet  and  unobserved  manner  ;  subject  to  a  regulation 
like  that  of  the  ancient  Spartans,  the  thefts  of  knowledge  in 
our  sex  are  only  connived  at  while  carefully  concealed,  and, 
if  displayed,  punished  with  disgrace.  The  best  way  for 
women  to  acquire  knowledge  is  from  conversation  with  a 
father,  a  brother,  or  a  friend,  in  the  way  of  family  inter- 
course and  easy  conversation,  and  by  such  a  course  of  read- 
ing as  they  may  recommend.     If  you  add  to  these  an  attend- 

3* 


58  LIFE   OF  MBS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  IV. 

ance  upon  those  masters  which  are  usually  provided  in 
schools,  and  perhaps  such  a  set  of  lectures  as  Mr.  Ferguson's, 
which  it  is  not  uncommon  for  ladies  to  attend,  I  think  a 
woman  will  be  in  a  way  to  acquire  all  the  learning  that  can 
be  of  use  to  those  who  are  not  to  teach  or  engage  in  any 
learned  profession.  Perhaps  you  may  think  that,  having 
myself  stepped  out  of  the  bounds  of  female  reserve  in  be- 
coming an  author,  it  is  with  an  ill  grace  I  offer  these  senti- 
ments ;  but,  though  this  circumstance  may  destroy  the  grace, 
it  does  not  the  justice,  of  the  remarks  ;  and  I  am  fully  con- 
vinced that  to  have  a  too  great  fondness  for  books  is  little 
favorable  to  the  happiness  of  a  woman,  especially  one  not  in 
affluent  circumstances.  My  situation  has  been  peculiar,  and 
would  be  no  rule  for  others. 

"  I  should  likewise  object  to  the  age  proposed.  Their 
knowledge  ought  to  be  acquired  at  an  earlier  period ;  geog- 
raphy, those  languages  it  may  be  proper  for  them  to  learn, 
grammar,  etc.,  are  best  learned  from  about  nine  to  thirteen 
or  fourteen,  and  will  then  interfere  less  with  other  duties. 
I  should  have  little  hopes  of  cultivating  a  love  of  knowledge 
in  a  young  lady  of  fifteen,  who  came  to  me  ignorant  and 
untaught ;  and  if  she  has  laid  a  foundation,  she  will  be  able 
to  pursue  her  studies  without  a  master,  or  with  such  a  one 
only  as  Eousseau  gives  his  Sophie  !  *  It  is  too  late  then  to 
begin  to  learn.  The  empire  of  the  passions  is  coming  on,  a 
new  world  opens  to  the  youthful  eye ;  those  attachments 
begin  to  be  formed  which  influence  the  happiness  of  future 
life  ;  the  care   of  a  mother,  and  that  alone,  can  give  suitable 


1774.]  ON   THE   EDUCATION   OF   WOMEN.  59 

attention  to  this  important  period.  At  this  period  they 
have  many  things  to  learn  which  hooks  and  systems  never 
taught.  The  grace  and  ease  of  polished  society,  with  the 
established  modes  of  behavior  to  every  different  class  of 
people  ;  the  detail  of  domestic  economy,  to  which  they  must 
be  gradually  introduced  ;  the  duties,  the  proprieties  of  be- 
havior, which  they  must  practise  in  their  own  family,  in  the 
families  where  they  visit,  to  their  friends,  to  their  acquaint- 
ance ;  lastly,  their  behavior  to  the  other  half  of  their  species, 
with  whom  before  they  were  hardly  acquainted,  and  who 
then  begin  to  court  their  notice,  the  choice  of  proper  ac- 
quaintance of  that  sex,  the  art  to  converse  with  them  with  a 
happy  mixture  of  easy  politeness  and  graceful  reserve,  and 
to  wear  off  by  degrees  something  of  the  girlish  bashfulness 
without  injuring  virgin  delicacy.  These  are  the  accomplish- 
ments which  a  young  woman  has  to  learn  from  fourteen  or 
fifteen  till  she  is  married,  or  fit  to  be  so  ;  and  surely  these 
are  not  to  be  learned  in  a  school.  They  must  be  learned 
partly  at  home,  and  partly  by  visits  in  genteel  families ; 
they  cannot  be  taught  where  a  number  are  together ;  they 
cannot  be  taught  without  the  most  intimate  knowledge  of  a 
young  lady's  temper,  connections,  and  views  in  life,  nor 
without  an  authority  and  influence  established  upon  all  the 
former  part  of  her  life.  For  all  these  reasons,  it  is  my  full 
opinion  that  the  best  public  education  cannot  at  that  period 
be  equally  serviceable  with  —  I  had  almost  said  —  an  indif- 
ferent private  one. 

"  My  next  reason  is,  that  I  am  not  at  all  qualified  for  the 


60  LIFE   OF   MRS.    BARBAULD.  [Chap.  IV. 

task.  I  have  seen  a  great  deal  of  the  manner  of  educating 
boys,  and  know  pretty  well  what  is  expected  in  the  care  of 
them  ;  but  in  a  girls'  boarding-school  I  should  be  quite  a 
novice  ;  I  never  was  at  one  myself,  have  not  even  the  ad- 
vantage of  younger  sisters  ;  indeed,  for  the  early  part  of  my 
life  I  conversed  little  with  my  own  sex.  In  the  village 
where  I  was,  there  were  none  to  converse  with  ;  and  this,  I 
am  very  sensible,  has  given  me  an  awkwardness  in  many 
common  things  which  would  make  me  most  peculiarly  unfit 
for  the  education  of  my  own  sex.  But  suppose  I  were  toler- 
ably qualified  to  instruct  those  of  my  own  rank ;  consider 
that  these  must  be  of  a  class  far  superior  to  those  I  have 
lived  amongst  and  conversed  with.  Young  ladies  of  that 
rank  ought  to  have  their  education  superintended  by  a 
woman  perfectly  well-bred,  from  whose  manner  they  may 
catch  that  ease  and  gracefulness  which  can  only  be  learned 
from  the  best  company ;  and  she  should  be  able  to  direct 
them,  and  judge  of  their  progress  in  every  genteel  accom- 
plishment. I  could  not  judge  of  their  music,  their  dancing, 
and,  if  I  pretended  to  correct  their  air,  they  might  be  tempted 
to  smile  at  my  own  ;  for  I  know  myself  remarkably  deficient 
in  gracefulness  of  person,  in  my  air  and  manner,  and  in  the 
easy  graces  of  conversation.  Indeed,  whatever  the  kind 
partiality  of  my  friends  may  think  of  me,  there  are  few 
things  I  know  well  enough  to  teach  them  with  any  satisfac- 
tion, and  many  I  never  could  learn  myself.  These  de- 
ficiencies would  soon  be  remarked  when  I  was  introduced  to 
people  of  fashion  ;  and  were  it  possible  that,  notwithstand- 


1771]  VISIT   TO   HORACE  WALPOLE.  61 

ing,  I  should  meet  with  encouragement,  I  could  never  prose- 
cute with  any  pleasure  an  undertaking  to  which  I  should 
know  myself  so  unequal ;  I  am  sensible  the  common  board- 
ing-schools are  upon  a  very  bad  plan,  and  believe  I  could 
project  a  better,  but  I  could  not  execute  it." 

Miss  Aikin's  intelligence  and  learning  were  equalled 
only  by  her  modesty,  which  makes  it  evident  that  a 
high  degree  of  culture  is  not  incompatible  with 
womanly  refinement  and  graces.  But  there  can  be  no 
doubt  she  greatly  undervalued  her  own  capacity  and 
fitness  for  this  undertaking,  which  she  declined  partly 
because  of  that,  and  also  on  the  ground  of  the  im- 
practicability and  the  questionable  wisdom  of  the  pro- 
posed plan.  Her  natural  refinement,  the  deep  and 
thorough  studies  of  her  youth,  all  her  varied  charms  of 
mind  and  manner,  her  fine  conversation,  her  bright, 
playful  fancy  and  wit,  her  love  of  the  young,  her  talent 
for  teaching,  —  which  is  rare  in  combination  with  great 
power  of  expression  and  habits  of  study,  —  all  eminently 
marked  her  as  one  peculiarly  gifted  by  nature  and  cul- 
ture for  the  instruction  and  development  of  mental  and 
moral  qualities  in  the  young.  The  lighter  accomplish- 
ments, which  she  stated  her  ignorance  of.  were  those 
most  easily  acquired  from  a  shorter  study  of  them  ;  and, 
had  she  felt  her  fitness  for  the  position,  it  is  to  be 
believed  her  school  would  have  formed  an  era  in  the 
history  of  woman's  education. 


62  LIFE   OF  MRS.    BAEBAULD.  [Chap.  IV. 

Horace  Walpole,  in  writing  to  the  Countess  of  Os- 
sory,  in  1774,  adds,  in  a  postscript  to  his  letter,  "  Miss 
Aikin  has  been  here  this  morning  (she  is  just  married) ; 
she  desired  to  see  the  Castle  of  Otranto  (Strawberry 
Hill)  ;  I  let  her  see  all  the  antiquities  of  it."  This 
glimpse  of  London,  and  the  beauties  and  wonders  of 
the  great  city  and  its  surrounding  attractions,  Mrs.  Bar- 
bauld  probably  had  before  she  settled  with  her  hus- 
band at  Palgrave,  where  they  opened  a  boarding-school 
for  boys  which  had  the  united  attention  and  care  of 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Barbauld.  Their  school  soon  became  a 
success.  Undoubtedly,  the  fact  of  Mrs.  Barbauld's  high 
character,  fine  talents,  culture,  and  her  good  literary 
reputation  for  classic  study  and  taste,  made  her  personal 
superintendence  and  teaching  highly  valued  as  a  guar- 
anty for  its  superiority  and  attractions  over  most  in- 
stitutions of  that  kind. 

To  Dr.  Aikin. 

Palgrave,  1774. 
Thanks  to  my  dear  brother  for  his  letter,  and  the  copy  of 
verses,  which  Mr.  B.  and  I  admire  much.  As  to  your 
system,  I  do  not  know  what  to  say ;  I  think  I  could  make 
out  just  the  contrary  with  as  plausible  arguments  :  as  thus, 
"Women  are  naturally  inclined  not  only  to  love,  but  to  all 
the  soft  and  gentle  affections,  all  the  tender  attentions  and 
kind  sympathies  of  nature.  When,  therefore,  one  of  our 
sex  shows  any  particular  complacency  towards  one  of  yours, 
it  may  be  resolved  into  friendship ;  into  a  temper  naturally 


1774.]  LETTER   TO   DR.  AIKIN.  63 

caressing,  and  those  endearing  intercourses  of  life  which  to  a 
woman  are  become  habitual.  But  when  man,  haughty,  in- 
dependent man,  becomes  sensible  to  all  the  delicacies  of 
sentiment,  and  softens  his  voice  and  address  to  the  tone 
of  les  manieres  douces,  it  is  much  to  be  suspected  a  stronger 
power  than  friendship  has  worked  the  change.  You  are 
hardly  social  creatures  till  your  minds  are  humanized  and 
subdued  by  that  passion  which  alone  can  tame  you  to  "  all 
the  soft  civilities  of  life."  Your  heart  requires  a  stronger 
fire  to  melt  it  than  ours  does  ;  the  chaste  and  gentle  rays  of 
friendship,  like  star-beams,  may  play  upon  it  without  effect ; 
it  will  only  yield  to  gross  material  fire.  There  is  a  pretty 
flight  for  you  !  In  short,  women,  I  think,  may  be  led  on  by 
sentiment  to  passion  ;  but  men  must  be  subdued  by  passion 
before  they  can  taste  sentiment.  Well !  I  protest  I  think 
I  have  the  best  of  the  argument  all  to  nothing.  I  '11  go  ask 
Mr.  Barbauld.  Yes  ;  he  says  my  system  will  do.  I  beg  I 
may  have  Dr.  E.'s  opinion  upon  it,  as  I  take  him  to  be  a 
pretty  casuist  in  these  affairs.  I  hope  I  am  by  this  time 
richer  by  a  nephew  or  niece  :  if  it  is  a  boy,  I  claim  it ;  if  a 
girl,  I  will  be  content  to  stay  for  the  next.  I  am  afraid 
my  poor  child  *  is  tossing  upon  the  waves,  for  I  have  not 
heard  yet  of  its  arrival  in  London  ;  and  I  cannot  help  feel- 
ing all  a  parent's  anxiety  for  its  fate  and  establishment  in 
the  world  ;  several  people  here  are  so  kind  as  to  inquire 
after  it,  but  I  can  give  them  no  satisfaction. 

*  Her  Devotional  Pieces,  sent  from  Norfolk,  by  sea,  to  be  printed  at 
Warrington.  —  Editor. 


64  LIFE   OF   MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  IV. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Barbauld  were  peculiarly  fortunate  in 
their  scholars.  Two  of  the  eight  with  whom  they  be- 
gan their  school  were  highly  gifted  by  nature,  and 
under  Mrs.  Barbauld's  fostering  influence  and  almost 
maternal  care  their  minds  rapidly  developed.  One  of 
these  boys  was  Sir  William  Gell,  and  the  other  was 
William  Taylor,  of  Norwich,  well  known  in  after  life  as 
the  author  of  a  very  able  and  valuable  work  on  English 
Synonymes,  and  by  his  admirably  faithful  and  spirited 
translations  from  the  German,  his  version  of  the 
Iphigenia  in  Tauris,  and  Leonore  from  Burger,  with 
other  poems  which  have  made  him  eminent  as  a  man 
of  mind  and  culture.  He  was  one  of  the  first  thorough 
students  of  the  language,  writings,  and  advanced 
thought  of  Germany ;  and  he  opened  for  England  that 
wide  field  of  study  and  speculation  before  compara- 
tively unknown  and  unexplored.  Miss  Lucy  Aikin,  in 
writing  of  him  many  years  after  the  time  of  his  resi- 
dence at  Palgrave  to  one  of  her  friends,  speaks  of  him 
as  one  of  Mrs.  Barbauld's  most  brilliant  scholars.  She 
says,  "  Of  his  youth  I  can  only  speak  traditionally  ;  but 
I  know  that  high  hopes  were  conceived  of  him  by 
those  who  knew  him  in  his  boyhood,  and  especially  by 
her  whom  I  have  heard  him  name  with  gratitude  '  the 
mother  of  his  mind,'  —  Mrs.  Barbauld.  His  talent  for 
poetry  was  early  discovered  by  her."  In  his  memoir 
of    Dr.    Sayers,    of    Norwich,    author    of     "Dramatic 


1774.]  HER   DISTINGUISHED   PUPILS.  65 

Sketches  of  Northern  Mythology,"  also  a  scholar  at 
Palgrave,  Mr.  Taylor  has  left  a  record  of  the  impres- 
sions of  his  friend  as  to  the  value  and  interest  derived 
from  Mrs.  Barbauld's  careful  and  improving  instruc- 
tions. "Among  the  instructions  bestowed  at  Palgrave, 
Dr.  Sayers  has  repeatedly  observed  to  me  that  he  most 
valued  the  lessons  of  English  composition,  superin- 
tended by  Mrs.  Barbauld.  On  Wednesdays  and  Satur- 
days the  boys  were  called  in  separate  classes  to  her 
apartment :  she  read  a  fable,  a  short  story,  or  a  moral 
essay,  to  them  aloud,  and  then  sent  them  back  into  the 
school-room  to  write  it  out  on  their  slates  in  their  own 
words.  Each  exercise  was  separately  overlooked  by 
her;  the  faults  of  grammar  were  obliterated,  the  vul- 
garisms were  chastised,  the  idle  epithets  were  cancelled, 
and  a  distinct  reason  was  always  assigned  for  every 
correction ;  so  that  the  arts  of  inditing  and  criticising 
were  in  some  degree  learnt  together.  Many  a  lad  from 
the  great  schools,  who  excels  in  Latin  or  Greek,  cannot 
write  properly  a  vernacular  letter,  for  want  of  some 
such  discipline."  This  description  of  one  of  the  meth- 
ods of  teaching  followed  by  Mrs.  Barbauld  is  interest- 
ing and  worthy  of  record,  as  indicating  the  early  im- 
pression and  lasting  influence  made  by  a  well-trained 
and  cultivated  mind  in  its  contact  with  the  young  and 
impressible  natures  under  its  charge. 

Mrs.    Barbauld   also   taught   the   usually   dull    and 


66  LIFE   OF   MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  IV. 

rather  unattractive  study  of  geography,  and  made  it 
extremely  pleasant,  and  the  vehicle  of  so  much  «that 
stimulated  and  interested  the  minds  of  her  pupils  that 
this  lesson  became  a  source  of  enjoyment  to  them,  as 
she  related,  in  connection  with  the  simple  details  of  the 
position  of  places,  the  natural  history,  manners,  and 
customs  of  the  people,  and  so  much  of  the  history  of 
each  country  as  she  thought  suited  to  the  comprehension 
and  youth  of  those  whom  she  taught.  Miss  Aikin  says  : 
"  A  public  examination  of  the  boys  was  always  held  at 
the  close  of  the  winter  session ;  at  the  termination  of 
the  summer  one  they  performed  a  play ;  and  upon 
Mrs.  Barbauld  principally  devolved  —  together  with 
the  contrivance  of  dresses  and  decorations,  and  the 
composition  of  prologues,  epilogues,  and  interludes  — 
the  instruction  of  the  young  exhibitors  in  the  art  of 
declamation.  In  this  branch  she  likewise  excelled; 
and  the  neglected  though  delightful  arts  of  good  read- 
ing and  graceful  speaking  were  nowhere  taught  with 
more  assiduity  and  success."  The  name  of  Sir  William 
Gell,  the  eminent  antiquarian,  celebrated  as  the  ex- 
plorer of  the  Plain  of  Troy,  and  also  for  his  large  and 
valuable  work  on  Pompeii,  and  the  explorations  there, 
must  not  be  omitted  in  mentioning  the  boys  under 
Mrs.  Barbauld's  care.  He  was  one  of  her  youngest 
scholars  in  the  infant  class,  for  whose  use  she  wrote  the 
"  Prose  Hymns." 


1775.]  LETTER  TO   DR.   AIKIN.  67 

Palgkave,  Sept.  9,  1775. 

I  give  you  joy  with  all  my  heart,  my  clear  brother,  on  the 
little  hero's  appearance  in  the  world,  and  hope  he  will  live 
to  be  as  famous  a  man  as  any  of  his  namesakes.  I  shall 
look  upon  you  now  as  a  very  respectable  man,  as  being  en- 
titled to  all  the  honors  and  privileges  of  a  father  of  three 
children.  I  would  advise  you  to  make  one  a  hero,  as  you 
have  determined ;  another  a  scholar ;  and  for  the  third,  — 
send  him  to  us,  and  we  will  bring  him  up  a  Norfolk  farmer, 
which  I  suspect  to  be  the  best  business  of  the  three.  I  have 
not  forgot  Arthur,  and  send  you  herewith  a  story  for  his 
edification  ;  but  I  must  desire  you  to  go  on  with  it.  When 
you  have  brought  the  shepherd  Hidallan  a  sheet  further  in 
his  adventures,  send  him  back  to  me,  and  I  will  take  up  the 
pen  :  it  will  be  a  very  sociable  way  of  writing,  and  I  doubt 
not  but  it  will  produce  something  new  and  clever.  The 
great  thing  to  be  avoided  in  these  things  is,  the  having  any 
plan  in  your  head  :  nothing  cramps  your  fancy  so  much ; 
and  I  protest  to  you  I  am  entirely  clear  from  that  incon- 
venience. 

Pray,  can  you  tell  me  anything  about  Crashaw  1  I  have 
read  some  verses  of  his,  prefixed  to  Cornaro's  Treatise,  so 
exceedingly  pretty  that  I  am  persuaded  he  must  have 
written  more,  and  should  be  glad  to  see  them  :  I  would 
transcribe  the  verses,  but  I  think  you  have  Cornaro  in  your 
library. 

Be  it  known  to  you,  that  Palgrave  Seminary  will  soon 
abound  with  poets,  even  as  the  green  fields  abound  with 


68  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  IV. 

grasshoppers.  Our  usher  is  a  poet  profest ;  and  two 
of  the  lads  have  lately  exercised  their  pens  the  same  way, 
and  not  amiss.  One  especially  has  written  two  or  three 
pieces,  which,  if  I  am  not  deceived  by  the  partiality  I  can- 
not help  feeling  for  the  little  urchins,  I  may  say  are  really 
clever  for  a  boy  of  twelve  years  old.  Now  I  am  upon 
poetical  subjects,  I  must  tell  you  that  a  young  clergyman  in 
this  neighborhood  is  writing  a  play,  which  he  did  us  the 
honor  to  submit  to  our  criticism.  The  subject  is  the  resist- 
ance of  the  Chilese  to  the  Spaniards,  by  which  they  recovered 
their  independence.  I  am  afraid  I  gave  him  very  wicked 
advice ;  for  I  recommended  it  to  him  to  re-convert  his  In- 
dian from  Christianity  to  heathenism,  and  to  make  his 
chiefs  a  little  more  quarrelsome. 

I  believe  the  Devotional  Pieces  have  met  with  the  fate  of 
poor  Jonah,  and  been  swallowed  up  by  some  whale,  —  per- 
haps out  of  pity  and  compassion,  to  save  them  in  his  jaws 
from  the  more  terrible  teeth  of  the  critics.  St.  Anthony,  I 
think,  preached  to  the  fishes  ;  perhaps  I  may  have  the  same 
honor.  I  should  as  soon  hope  to  inspire  a  porpoise  with  de- 
votion, as  a  turtle-eater. 

You  must  know  I  find  one  inconvenience  in  franks  ;  one 
never  knows  when  to  have  done.  In  a  common  letter  you 
fill  your  sheet,  and  there  's  an  end ;  but  with  a  frank  you 
may  write  on  and  on  forever  :  I  have  tried  two  pens  al- 
ready. But  I  will  write  no  more  to  you  :  I  will  write  to 
poor  Patty,  who  wants  amusement,  —  so  farewell !  Go  and 
study  your  Greek,  and  do  not  interrupt  us. 


1775.] 


CORRESPONDENCE. 


69 


And  how  do  you  do,  my  dear  Patty  ?  let  me  take  a  peep 
at  this  boy.  Asleep,  is  he  1  Never  mind  ;  draw  the  cradle- 
curtain  softly,  and  let  me  have  a  look.  Upon  my  word,  a 
noble  lad  !  dark  eyes,  like  his  mother,  and  a  pair  of  cheeks  ! 
You  may  keep  him  a  few  months  yet,  before  you  pack  him 
up  in  the  hamper ;  and  then  I  desire  you  will  send  him  with 
all  speed  ;  for  you  know  he  is  to  be  mine 

May  every  blessing  attend  you  and  yours,  and  all  the  dear 
society  at  Warrington ! 


70  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  V. 


CHAPTER    V. 

Mrs.  Barbauld's  Letters.  —  Dr.  Johnson's  Description  of  Her.  — 
Publishes  "Thoughts  on  the  Devotional  Taste."  —  London 
Society  at  that  Period.  —  The  Eminent  Men  and  Women  of  the 
Time. —The  Blue-Stocking  Club.  — Miss  More's  "Bas  Bleu." — 
Miss  More  meets  Mrs.   Barbauld.  —  Mr.    and   Mrs.  Barbauld 

OFFER     TO    ADOPT    ONE    OF     Dr.     AlKIN'S     CHILDREN.  —  THE    OFFER 

Accepted.  —  "Early  Lessons"  written  by  Mrs.   Barbauld  for 
his  Use.  —  Letters  to  Miss  Dixon. 

FROM  these  accounts  of  the  life  at  Palgrave  we 
learn  how  much  Mrs.  Barbauld  personally  inter- 
ested herself  in  the  studies,  pleasures,  and  pursuits  of 
the  boys;  how  they  were  cared  for  and  sympathized 
with  by  her  kind  heart  and  the  intuition  which  prompted 
her  to  the  study  and  understanding  of  each  mind  and 
its  capacity,  and  how  singularly  happy  those  children 
appear  to  have  been  who  came  under  her  charge.  Each 
lesson  was  in  itself  a  study  to  her ;  and  she  must  have 
devoted  herself  to  each  branch  she  taught,  to  have  so 
successfully  adapted  her  thoughts  to  the  ability  and 
identified  herself  with  the  growth  of  the  young  minds 
dependent  on  her  for  their  development.     From  those 


1775.].  LIFE  AT  PALGKAVE.  71 

of  her  own  letters  which  have  already  been  dated  from 
Palgrave,  and  which  speak  of  her  life  and  the  varied 
occupations  there,  the  reader  will  gain  a  good  idea  of 
her  own  thoughts  and  opinion  on  the. subject,  and  read- 
ily see  why,  during  her  residence  in  that  place,  she  did 
not  do  more  literary  work.  She  appears  to  have  had  her 
hands,  heart,  and  head  full,  and  no  time  to  spare  from 
the  engrossing  and  absorbing  cares  she  assumed,  and 
which  she  accomplished  so  ably  and  faithfully.  Her  let- 
ters are  bright  and  animated,  full  of  life  and  spirit,  and 
one  finds  in  them  many  excellent  thoughts,  lively  sallies 
of  wit,  and  little  allegories  and  fables.  They  also  record 
first  impressions  of  new  books  and  old  ones  just  read, 
of  men  and  women  whom  she  met,  and  the  varied 
events  of  the  day.  She  wrote  forcibly,  simply,  and  to 
the. point.  Though  her  letters  are  often  full  of  the 
trifles  which  make  up  the  sum  of  life,  yet  the  style 
and  sentiments  of  their  writer  are  as  evident  in  these 
chronicles  of  her  daily  existence  as  in  any  of  her  most 
studied  and  elaborate  works.  They  extend  over  a  long 
period,  and  form  quite  a  memoir  of  her  pursuits,  tastes, 
and  friendships.  In  her  letters  from  Palgrave  we  can 
see  how  busily  she  was  occupied,  and  her  apology  to 
her  brother  for  not  writing  because  of  the  varied  duties 
of  "  making  up  beds  ;  secondly,  scolding  my  maids,  pre- 
paring for  company ;  and,  lastly,  drawing  up  and  deliver- 
ing my  lectures  on  geography,"  shows  how  the  active 


72  LIFE   OF   MRS.    BARBAULD  [Chap.  V. 

housekeeper,  full  of  work  and  hospitality,  and  the 
thoughtful,  intelligent  teacher  met  in  her  person.  The 
prosperity  of  the  school  was  unusual,  and  must  have 
been  highly  gratifying  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Barbauld,  who 
were  intensely  interested  in  their  life  and  work.  In 
the  following  letter,  the  same  from  which  I  have  quoted, 
she  tells  Dr.  Aikin  that  the  school  will  number  twenty- 
seven  pupils  before  vacation,  and  two  more  are  to  enter 
at  Midsummer. 

Dear  Brother,  —  I  doubt  not  but  you  have  been  grum- 
bling in  your  gizzard  for  some  time,  and  muttering  between 
your  teeth,  "  What  is  this  lazy  sister  of  ours  about  1 "  ]Srow, 
to  prove  to  you  that  I  am  not  lazy,  I  will  tell  you  what  I 
have  been  about.  First,  then,  making  up  beds ;  secondly, 
scolding  my  maids,  preparing  for  company ;  and,  lastly,  draw- 
ing up  and  delivering  lectures  on  geography.  Give  me  joy 
of  our  success,  for  we  shall  have  twenty-seven  scholars 
before  the  vacation,  and  two  more  have  bespoke  places  at 
Midsummer ;  so  that  we  do  not  doubt  of  being  soon  full  ; 
nay,  sir,  I  can  assure  you  it  is  said  in  this  country,  that  it 
will  soon  be  a  favor  to  be  on  Mr.  Barbauld's  list :  you 
have  no  objection,  I  hope,  to  a  little  boasting. 

I  thank  you,  my  dear  brother,  for  so  kindly  drawing  your 
pen  in  my  defence.  An  admirer  of  Popery  !  Heaven  help 
their  wise  heads  !  when  it  was  one  of  my  earliest  aversions. 
But  this  I  see,  that  in  religious  and  political  affairs,  if  a 
person  does  not  enlist  under  a  party,  he  is  sure  to  meet  with 


1775.]  DR.    JOHNSON'S    CRITICISM.  73 

censure  from  party.  I  had  not  seen  the  charge  till  I  had 
your  letter ;  we  had  had  the  Review  too,  hut  I  had  read  it 
carelessly.  If  they  do  not  insert  your  letter,  I  should  be 
glad  to  see  it. 

Yes,  Sterne's  letters  are  paltry  enough,  and  so  are  Lady 
Luxborough's,  which  we  ran  through  in  the  course  of  an 
afternoon.  I  am  afraid  the  public  will  be  satiated  with  letters 
before  we  publish  our  correspondence.  I  could  make  a  neat 
pocket-volume  or  two  of  yours,  and  of  Mr.  Barbauld's  a 
quarto.     Adieu,  yours  ever. 

In  Dr.  Burney's  "  Recollections  of  Dr.  Johnson,*"  he 
says  that,  after  Mrs.  Barbauld's  "Early  Lessons"  ap- 
peared, Dr.  Johnson  was  very  severe  in  his  remarks 
on  her,  and  growled  out  the  following  criticism :  "  Miss 
Aikin  was  an  instance  of  early  cultivation,  but  in  what 
did  it  terminate  ?  In  marrying  a  little  Presbyterian 
parson,  who  keeps  an  infant  boarding-school,  so  that  all 
her  employment  now  is 

'  To  suckle  fools,  and  chronicle  small  beer.' 

She  tells  the  children,  'This  is  a  cat,  and  this  is  a 
dog,  with  four  legs  and  a  tail ;  see  there  !  you  are 
much  better  than  a  cat  or  a  dog,  for  you  can  speak/ 
If  I  had  bestowed  such  an  education  on  a  dauo-hter, 
and  had  discovered  that  she  thought  of  marrying  such 
a  fellow,  I  would  have  sent  her  to  the  Congress." 

Some  friend,  perhaps  Boswell,  had  evidently  goaded 


74  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  V. 

Dr.  Johnson  to  this  ridiculous  and  foolish  expression 
of  his  ignorance  of  the  real  importance  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Barbauld's  position  and  the  excellent  work  they  did  in 
their  school.  Mrs.  Piozzi  in  her  Eeminiscences  of  the 
Doctor  says,  in  mentioning  those  who  wrote  for  chil- 
dren, a  class  of  writers  for  whom  he  had  a  special  dis- 
like, "  Mrs.  Barbauld,  however,  had  his  best  praise,  and 
deserved  it ;  no  man  was  ever  more  struck  than  Mr. 
Johnson  with  voluntary  descent  from  possible  splendor 
to  painful  duty."  This  seems  worthy  of  him  in  his  bet- 
ter moods,  and  is  surely  a  just  and  proper  recognition 
of  her  merits  as  one  who  could  write  or  could  refrain 
from  it,  if  duty  called  her  to  other  work  less  attrac- 
tive and  showy,  but  still  important  and  worthy  of  her 
powers. 

The  time  of  Mrs.  Barbauld,  though  it  was  very  much 
occupied  by  her  school  duties,  was  not  entirely  en- 
grossed by  them,  and  in  her  leisure  hours  she  accom- 
plished some  literary  work.  The  volume  given  to  the 
public  in  the  year  1775,  called  "  Devotional  Pieces 
compiled  from  the  Psalms  of  David,  with  Thoughts  on 
the  Devotional  Taste,"  was  an  evidence  of  her  industry, 
but  hardly  added  anything  to  her  reputation  for  taste 
or  literary  skill.  As  a  selection,  the  "  Thoughts  on  the 
Devotional  Taste  "  was  not  generally  liked,  and  did  not 
escape  some  criticism  then  and  later,  when  the  Essay 
was  reprinted  among  her  miscellaneous  pieces. 


1775.]  HER  LITERARY   CONTEMPORARIES.  75 

To  Dr.  Aikin. 

"  Yes,  I  was  somewhat  lazy  in  writing,  I  confess  ;  but  upon 
my  word  I  could  not  tell  liow  to  help  it,  so  busy  was  I ;  and, 
by  the  way,  I  think  I  have  sometimes  been  as  long  without 
hearing  from  Warrington.     Well !  we  will  all  mend  if  we  can. 

"  Mr.  Barbauld  thanks  you  for  your  elegant  '  Pliny,'  which 
he  intends  to  make  a  school-book  immediately  after  vacation. 
Your  '  Tacitus,'  too,  seems  a  very  good  scheme,  and  we  hope 
to  see  it  in  time.  But  I  own  I  cannot  help  wishing  you 
would  undertake  some  original  work,  either  of  fancy  or 
elegant  criticism ;  you  have  the  powers  for  both.  I  think 
we  must  some  day  sew  all  our  fragments  together,  and  make 
a  joinerianna  of  them.  Let  me  see  :  I  have  half  a  ballad, 
the  first  scene  of  a  play,  a  plot  of  another,  all  but  the  catas- 
trophe, half  a  dozen  loose  similes,  and  an  eccentric  flight  or 
two  among  the  fairies. 

"  Did  I  tell  you  the  boys  are  going  to  act  the  First  Part 
of  Henry  IV.,  and  I  am  busy  making  paper  Vandykes,  and 
trimming  up  their  hats  with  feathers  ]  Do  you  know  that 
we  make  a  trip  to  Holland  this  vacation  1 " 

A  brilliant  circle  of  women  celebrated  as  poets,  wits, 
and  votaries  of  literature  in  its  various  departments, 
were  contemporaries  of  Mrs.  Barbauld,  and  she  lived  to 
see  and  to  know,  as  they  came  forward,  many  of  the 
great  lights  of  the  present  century.  Among  her 
earliest  friends  was  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Montague,  whose 
house  in  Hill  Street  was  a  -"  court  for  the  votaries  of 


76  LIFE   OF   MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  V. 

the  Muses,"  and  Montague  House,  Portman  Square,  her 
later  more  palatial  residence,  was  equally  the  centre 
of  attraction  for  those  whom  she  admitted  to  her  circle 
of  visitors.  She  gathered  round  her  all  the  eminent 
men  and  women  of  the  day,  honoring  those  dis- 
tinguished by  well-known  productions,  and  was  as 
ready  to  extend  the  hand  of  welcome  to  rising,  obscure, 
and  struggling  genius.  For  many  years  she  gave  an 
annual  feast  to  all  the  chimney-sweeps  of  London. 
This  noted  act  of  kindness  was  only  one  of  the  many 
generous  deeds  of  Mrs.  Montague  that  were  known, 
and  a  great  many  of  her  benevolences  she  did  in 
private,  only  the  receiver  being  aware  of  her  generos- 
ity. Even  Dr.  Johnson  was  mollified  by  her  aid  of 
his  blind  protegee  and  inmate,  Miss  Williams,  and  for  a 
time  forgave  Mrs.  Montague  her  wit,  popularity,  and 
social  successes,  and  found  her  house  pleasant,  or,  as 
Boswell  would  say,  "  not  unpleasant,"  in  imitation  of 
Dr.  Johnson's  style.  After  an  evening  passed  at  Mrs. 
Montague's,  which  was  characterized  by  the  brilliancy 
of  the  conversation,  ease  of  manners,  and  the  talents 
of  the  guests  who  met  there,  Boswell  asked  Dr.  John- 
-son  if  he  was  "  not  highly  gratified  by  his  visit."  "  No, 
sir,"  said  he,  "  not  highly  gratified,  yet  I  do  not  recollect 
to  have  passed  many  evenings  with  fewer  objections." 

Miss  More,  in  her  poem,  Bas  Bleu,  celebrated  the 
names  and  fame  of  the  three  leaders  of  London  so- 


1775.]  A  LITERARY   COTERIE.  77 

ciety  at  that  period,  who  had  so  changed  the  tone  of 
the  gatherings  which  they  admired  by  their  simplicity 
of  dress,  intelligent  conversation,-  and  the  banishment 
of  cards,  that  many,  who  possessed  neither  the  taste  to 
enjoy  nor  the  talents  to  adorn  such  a  superior  order  of 
society,  scornfully  called  them  the  blue  stockings.  In 
this  little  tribute  of  respect  and  friendly  admiration, 
Miss  More  praised  the  successful  efforts  of  her  three 
intimates,  Mrs.  Vesey,  Mrs.  Boscawen,  and  Mrs.  Mon- 
tague, whose  attempts  to  banish  the  excessive  card- 
playing  had  been  the  theme  of  much  conversation,  and 
the  cause  of  a  great  change  in  London  society.  The 
poem  was  addressed  to  Mrs.  Yesey,  who  was  one  of  the 
first  leaders  of  a  certain  set,  and  managed  by  her  tal- 
ent and  tact  to  break  up  the  usual  formality  of  a  circle, 
then  the  common  mode  of  sitting  in  a  conversation 
party.  And  she  did  so  by  inducing  people  to  talk  to- 
gether in  little  separate  groups.  One  can  easily  fancy 
how  few  people  would  find  it  either  a  possible  or  a  pleas- 
ant feat  to  converse  while  placed  in  a  large  circle  round 
a  room.  She  was  the  wife  of  the  Hon.  Agmondesham 
Yesey,  an  Irish  gentleman,  and  one  of  Mr.  Burke's 
friends,  on  whose  recommendation  he  was  admitted  to 
Johnson's  Literary  Club.  Mrs.  Boscawen  was  another 
celebrated  woman  of  fashion,  talent,  and  culture.  She 
was  warmly  eulogized  by  Miss  More  in  her  poem  on 
"  Sensibility,"  and  there,  after  animated  and  good  por- 


78  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BAEBAULD.  [Chap.  V. 

traits  of  some  of  the  other  distinguished  women  of  the 
day,  including  Mrs.  Barbauld,  she  attributed  to  the 
spirit  of  sensibility  and  the  warmth  of  friendship  of 
this  lady  her  great  influence  and  attractions,  — 

"  'T  is  this,  whose  charms  the  soul  resistless  seize, 
And  gives  Boscawen  half  her  power  to  please." 

The  example  and  influence  of  these  ladies  was  excel- 
lent in  banishing  cards  and  gambling ;  when 

"Society,  o'errun 
By  whist,  that  desolating  Hun," 

was  in  great  need  of  reform  and  improvement ;  for  this 
she  gives  — 

"  The  vanquished  triple  crown  to  you  [Mrs.  Vesey], 
Boscawen  sage,  bright  Montague, 
Divided  fell.     Your  cares  in  haste 
Rescued  the  ravaged  realms  of  taste." 

The  names  of  these  ladies  indicate  some  of  the  brightest 
social  ornaments  of  their  country,  and  should  not  be 
forgotten  among  those  contemporaries  of  Mrs.  Bar- 
bauld  who  made  London  the  centre  of  attraction  for 
those  who  enjoyed  conversation,  literature,  cultivation, 
and  refinement.  The  English  drawing-room  then  first 
asserted  its  just  claims  to  respect  and  admiration  as  a 
social,  literary,  and  refining  influence;  and  the  de- 
servedly high  character  then  attributed  to  these  women 
of  taste  and  culture,  who  first  gave  it  the  reputation  it 
still  enjoys,  has  grown  greater  with  succeeding  years. 


1775.]  A  LITERARY   COTERIE.  79 

Miss   Elizabeth   Carter   was   another   of  the   rioted 
women  of  the  time,  celebrated  as    the   translator  of 
Epictetus.     She,  by  her  example  and  influence,  raised 
the  standard  of  woman's  education,  in  proving  that  it 
was  not  impossible  for  them  to  engage  in  highly  intel- 
lectual and  deep  studies,  and  also   to  be  domestic  in 
their  tastes.     Her  friend  Miss  Talbot  having  written, 
after  the  translation  of  Epictetus  was  finished,  asking 
her  to  prepare  a  Life  to  be  published  with  the  Works, 
she  replied  :  "  Whoever  that  somebody  or  other  is  who 
is  to  write  the  Life  of  Epictetus,  seeing  I  have  a  dozen 
shirts  to  make,  I  do  opine,  dear  Miss  Talbot,  that  it 
cannot  be  I."     Mrs.  Delany,  the  friend  and  correspond- 
ent of  Swift  in  early  life,  was  among  these  high-toned, 
talented  women.    She  was  distinguished  by  George  III. 
and  his  queen,  who  did  .themselves  as  much  honor  as 
they  did  her  by  their  kindly  attentions  to  her  in  her 
extreme  old  age.     She  was  the  life -long  friend  of  the 
Duchess    of    Portland,   in    her    childhood    known   as 
Prior's  "  noble,  lovely  little  Peggy,"  and  of  whom  Miss 
More  wrote  later,  "  Her  attractions  owe  nothing  to  her 
rank."     Mrs.  Delany's  Life  and  Letters  reveal  her  as  a 
talented,  amiable,  and  womanly  character,  the  centre 
of  a  large  circle  of  friends  and  relations.     Miss  More 
repeats   Burke's    remark    on   Mrs.    Delany's    extreme 
sensibility  in  old  age,  and  her  unusual  warmth  of  feel- 
ing, "  that  she  was  almost  the  only  person  he  ever  saw, 


80  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  V. 

who  at  eighty -eight  blushed  like  a  girl."  Miss  Burney, 
the  gossiping,  lively  chronicler  of  her  own  and  other 
people's  doings,  from  King  George  and  Queen  Charlotte 
clown  to  some  of  the  humblest  of  their  subjects,  was 
one  of  the  noted  women  of  the  day ;  and  "  little  Fanny 
Burney,"  as  Dr.  Johnson  affectionately  called  her,  was 
welcomed  and  made  much  of  in  London  society  as  the 
authoress  of  "  Evelina,"  a  novel  which  had  interested 
and  amused  many,  and  puzzled  them  thoroughly  as  to 
its  unknown  writer  and  unheralded  appearance.  From 
her  diary  I  extract  some  notices  of  Mrs.  Barbauld,  who 
met  her  quite  early  in  her  literary  career,  and  then  re- 
newed the  acquaintance  many  years  after ;  of  which 
.meeting  Madame  D'Arblay  (Miss  Burney)  tells  her 
father,  noting  the  pleasure  it  gave  her. 

Miss  Hannah  More's  name,  and  high  repute  as  an 
authoress,  and  the  promoter  of  so  large  a  number  of  good 
works,  makes  it  almost  unnecessary  to  enlarge  upon 
her  character;  but  it  is  a  pleasant  fact  that  this  excellent 
woman  and  Mrs.  Barbauld  were  warm  and  affectionate 
friends.  They  were  perhaps,  without  exception,  the 
most  eminent  women  of  their  time,  certainly  in  their 
order  of  mind  and  chosen  train  of  thought  without 
rivals  ;  and  their  position  in  life  was  not  dissimilar,  both 
being  interested  in  the  instruction  of  the  young  in  early 
years.  Though  differing  widely  on  matters  of  religious 
belief  and  church  institutions,  —  Miss  More  represent- 


1776.]  HANNAH   MORE.  81 

ing  the  conservative  element,  and  Mrs.  Barbauld  being 
essentially  inclined  to  the  largest  liberality  of  view  and 
the  utmost  freedom  of  thought  and  expression  of  opin- 
ion, —  yet  they  had  many  mutual  interests  and  feelings  ; 
and  their  acquaintance,  which  began  in  1776,  grew  into 
a  warm  and  enduring  friendship  broken  only  by  Mrs. 
Barbauld's  death.     Miss  More,  in  one  of  her  first  visits 
to  London  after  her  entrance  into  the  great  world  of 
literature  and  fashion  as  an  author,  in  writing  home 
to  her  sister  of  her  numerous  invitations  and  engage- 
ments, told  her  of  a  dinner  "  with  the  female  Maecenas 
of  Hill  Street "  (Mrs.  Montague),  where  she  met,  among 
"  other  distinguished  people,"  friends  and  associates  of 
that   lady,    "  Mrs.    Barbauld."      Their  intimacy   dated 
from  this  evening.     In  the  next  year  she  wrote  to  her 
sister  from  Norfolk,  where  she  was  then  making  a  visit : 
"  I  went   to    Mrs.  Barbauld's   on  Thursday,  intending 
only  to  spend  one  day;  but  the  Muses  are  such  fasci- 
nating witches  that  there  is  no  getting  away  from  them. 
Mrs.  Barbauld  and  I  have  found  out  that  we  feel  as 
little  envy  and  malice  towards  each  other  as  though  we 
had  neither  of  us  attempted  to  '  build  the  lofty  rhyme,' 
though  she  says  this  is  what  the  envious  and  malicious 
can  never  be  brought  to  believe." 

Dear    Brother,  —  To  my  sister  and  yourself  Mr.  Bar- 
bauld and    I    have  a  request  to  make,   in  which,  though 
perhaps  it  may  be  rather  singular,  we  are  very  seriously  in 
4  *  f 


82  LIFE    OF   MRS.    BARBAULD.  [Chap.  V. 

earnest ;  and  therefore,  whether  you  grant  or  deny,  we  hope 
you  will  neither  laugh  at  us  nor  take  it  amiss.  Without 
further  preface,  it  is  this.  You  enjoy  a  blessing  Providence 
has  hitherto  denied  to  us,  —  that  of  children  :  you  have 
already  several,  and  seem  very  likely  to  have  a  numerous 
family.  As  to  ourselves,  having  been  thus  long  without 
prospect  of  any,  it  is,  to  say  the  least,  very  uncertain 
whether  that  hope,  which  most,  I  believe,  form  when  they 
marry,  will  ever  be  fulfilled.  Some,  indeed,  say  to  us,  that, 
considering  how  large  a  family  we  have  of  others'  chddren, 
't  is  rather  fortunate  we  have  none  of  our  own.  And  true 
it  is,  that,  employed  as  we  are  in  the  business  of  education, 
we  have  many  of  the  cares  and  some  of  the  pleasures  of  a 
parent ;  but  the  latter  very  imperfectly.  We  have  them  not 
early  enough  to  contract  the  fondness  of  affection  which 
early  care  alone  can  give  ;  we  have  them  not  long  enough  to 
see  the  fruit  of  our  culture ;  and  we  have  not  enough  the 
disposal  of  them  to  follow  our  own  plans  and  schemes  in  their 
education.  We  wish  for  one  who  might  be  wholly  ours ; 
and  we  think  that  if  a  child  was  made  ours  by  being  given 
young  into  our  hands,  we  could  love  it,  and  make  it  love  us, 
so  well  as  to  supply  in  a  great  measure  the  want  of  the  real 
relationship.  We  know  there  are  many  instances  of  people 
who  have  taken  the  greatest  satisfaction  in,  and  felt  the 
highest  fondness  for,  children  who  by  some  accident  have 
been  thrown  upon  their  arms.  Why,  then,  should  not  we 
seek  out  and  choose  some  object  of  such  an  affection  1  and 
where  can  we  better  seek  it  than  in  a  brother's  family  2 


1776.]  REQUEST   OF   HER  BROTHER.  83 

Our  request,  then,  in  short,  is  this  :  that  you  will  permit 
us  to  adopt  one  of  your  children,  —  which  of  them,  we  leave 
to  you ;  that  you  will  make  it  ours  in  every  sense  in  which 
it  is  possible  to  make  it ;  that  you  will  transfer  to  us  all 
the  care  and  all  the  authority  of  a  parent  ;  that  we  should 
provide  for  it,  educate  it,  and  have  the  entire  direction  of  it 
as  far  into  life  as  the  parental  power  itself  extends.  Xow  I 
know  not  what  to  say  to  induce  you  to  make  us  such  a  gift. 
Perhaps  you  will  entirely  deny  it,  and  then  we  must  ac- 
quiesce ;  for  I  am  sensible  it  is  not  a  small  thing  we  ask, 
nor  can  it  be  easy  for  a  parent  to  part  with  a  child.  This  I 
would  say  :  from  a  number,  one  may  more  easily  be  spared. 
Though  it  makes  a  very  material  difference  in  happiness 
whether  a  person  has  children  or  no  children,  it  makes,  I 
apprehend,  little  or  none  whether  he  has  three  or  four,  five 
or  six ;  because  four  or  five  are  enough  to  exercise  all  his 
whole  stock  of  care  and  affection.  "We  should  gain,  but  you 
would  not  lose.  I  would  likewise  put  you  in  mind  that  you 
would  not  part  with  it  to  strangers  ;  the  connection  between 
you  and  it  would  not  be  broken  off ;  you  would  see  it  (I 
hope),  hear  of  it  often  ;  and  it  would  be  taught  to  love  you, 
if  it  had  not  learnt  that  lesson  before.  Our  child  must  love 
our  brother  and  sister.  Its  relation  to  you  is  likewise  a  pre- 
sumption that  we  shall  not  be  wanting  in  that  love  for  it 
which  will  be  necessary  to  make  it  happy.  I  believe  both 
Mr.  Barbauld  and  myself  are  much  disposed  to  love  children, 
and  that  we  could  soon  grow  fond  of  any  one  who  was  amia- 
ble and  entirely  under  our  care.     How,  then,  can  we  fail  to 


84  LIFE   OF   MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  V. 

love  a  child  for  whom  at  setting  out  we  shall  have  such  a 
stock  of  affection  as  we  must  have  for  yours  1  I  hope,  too, 
we  should  have  too  right  a  sense  of  things  to  spoil  it ;  and 
we  see  too  much  of  children  to  indulge  an  over-anxious  care. 
But  you  know  us  well  enough  to  he  ahle  to  judge  in  general 
how  we  should  educate  it,  and  whether  to  your  satisfaction. 
Conscience  and  affection,  I  hope,  would  unite  in  inciting  us 
to  fulfil  an  engagement  we  should  thus  voluntarily  take  upon 
ourselves,  to  the  best  of  our  abilities. 

Our  situation  is  not  a  certain  one,  nor  have  we  long 
tried  it ;  but  we  have  all  the  reason  in  the  world  to  hope 
that,  if  things  go  on  as  they  have  hitherto  done,  we  should 
be  able  to  provide  for  a  child  in  a  decent  and  comfortable 
manner. 

Xow,  my  dear  brother  and  sister,  if  you  consent,  give  us 
which  of  your  boys  you  please  :  if  you  had  girls,  perhaps 
we  should  ask  a  girl  rather ;  and  if  we  might  choose  amongst 
your  boys,  we  could  make,  perhaps,  a  choice  ;  but  that  we  do 
not  expect  you  will  let  us.  Give  us,  then,  which  you  will ; 
only  let  him  be  healthy,  inoculated,  and  as  young  as  you  can 
possibly  venture  him  to  undertake  the  journey.  This  last 
circumstance  is  indispensable :  for  if  he  were  not  quite 
young,  we  should  not  gain  over  him  the  influence,  we  could 
not  feel  for  him  the  affection,  which  would  be  necessary ; 
besides,  if  at  all  able  to  play  with  our  pupils,  he  would  im- 
mediately mix  with  them,  and  would  be  little  more  to  us 
than  one  of  the  school-boys.  Do  not,  therefore,  put  us  off 
by  saying  that  one  of  yours  when  he  is  old  enough  shall 


1776.]  SHE  ADOPTS   A  NEPHEW.  85 

pay  us  a  visit.  To  see  any  of  yours  at  any  time  would,  no 
doubt,  give  us  the  highest  pleasure;  but  that  does  not  by 
any  means  come  up  to  what  we  now  ask.  "We  now  leave 
the  matter  before  you  :  consider  maturely,  and  give  us  your 
answer. 

0  no  !  I  never  promised  to  fill  this  second  sheet. 

Good  by  to  you. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Barbauld  desired  to  adopt  one  of  Dr. 
Aikin's  children,  as  they  had  none  of  their  own,  and  in 
her  letter  to  him  on  this  subject,  just  copied,  she  so 
fully  expressed  her  own  feelings  that  comment  is  un- 
necessary upon  the  interest  and  pleasure  with  which 
she  anticipated  the  care  and  education  of  the  little  boy 
whom  her  brother  committed  to  her  charge.  In  the 
following  letter  she  gives  full  utterance  to  her  gratitude 
and  joy  at  the  kindness  and  confidence  shown  her  by 
her  brother,  and  tells  him  how  much  she  appreciates 
also  the  forbearance  and  generosity  of  Mrs.  Aikin,  who 
naturally  dreaded  the  parting  which  must  come  be- 
tween her  child  and  herself.  The  little  boy  whom  they 
adopted  was  named  Charles  Rochemont  Aikin.  He  re- 
ceived devoted  attention  and  parental  affection  from 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Barbauld,  and  in  their  declining  years 
was  a  source  of  comfort  and  pride  to  them.  They 
received  him  into  their  home  at  the  age  of  two  years, 
and  for  the  future  Mrs.  Barbauld  made  his  education 
her  especial  care  and  study.     For  his  use  she  wrote  the 


86  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  V. 

"  Early  Lessons,"  which  were  justly  regarded  as  admi- 
rable, and  truly  original  in  style  and  simplicity.  The 
plan  formed  a  new  era  in  the  thought  and  execution  of 
the  works  prepared  especially  for  the  young,  making 
her  name  widely  known  and  loved  by  all  who  had  the 
best  interests  of  childhood  at  heart.  Dr.  Aikin,  writ- 
ing to  his  sister  in  the  year  1770,  spoke  of  this  work 
for  children  in  the  following  terms  :  "  The  little  book 
you  have  sent  for  Charles  is  what  a  person  of  real 
genius  alone  could  have  written ;  and  so  far  from  de- 
grading Mr.  Eyre's  press  (Warrington),  I  sincerely 
believe  it  has  never  been  employed  about  so  really 
useful  a  work  ;  all  its  metaphysics,  divinity,  philosophy, 
and  even  poetry,  not  excepted."  Children's  books  were 
almost  unknown  before  Mrs.  Trimmer  and  Mrs.  Bar- 
bauld  gave  theirs  to  the  world.  Terror  and  improba- 
bility seem  to  have  been  the  basis  of  all  tales  by  which 
young  minds  had  previously  been  nurtured  and  amused. 
Miss  More,  in  alluding  to  the  change  in  this  style  of 
literature,  and  the  efforts  of  these  two  writers  to  im- 
prove the  state  of  children's  reading,  giving  simple, 
natural  incidents,  instead  of  tales  of  monsters  and 
extraordinary,  impossible  adventures,  and  endeavoring 
to  convey  some  ideas  of  real  value  in  their  books, 
thereby  implanting  observation,  thought,  and  love  of 
nature  and  of  goodness,  says :  "  In  my  early  youth 
there  was  scarcely  anything  between  '  Cinderella '  and 


1776.]  CORRESPONDENCE.  87 

the  '  Spectator '  for  young  persons."  Fairy  tales  cer- 
tainly have  their  value  and  beauty,  but  a  young  child 
needs  something  more,  and  they  alone  do  not  suffice 
for  real  improvement  and  study. 

To  Dr.  Aikin. 

1776. 

Your  kind  and  acceptable  letter  would  have  met  with  an 
earlier  answer,  if  we  could,  either  of  us,  have  commanded  time 
to  write.  The  manner  in  which  you  receive  our  proposal 
gives  us  great  pleasure.  My  dear,  tender  Patty  !  I  wonder 
not  that  your  softness  takes  alarm  at  the  idea  of  parting 
with  any  of  your  sweet  blossoms.  All  I  can  say  is,  that,  the 
greater  the  sacrifice,  the  more  we  shall  think  ourselves 
obliged  to  you,  and  the  stronger  ties  we .  shall  think  our- 
selves under  to  supply,  as  far  as  possible,  to  the  child  of  our 
adoption,  the  tenderness  and  care  of  the  parents  we  take  it 
from.  Though  we  should  be  content  with  either,  yet  of  the 
two  we  shall  like  better  Charles,  if  you  determine  to  give 
him  us,  than  the  unborn ;  perhaps,  however,  by  this  time  I 
am  wrong  in  calling  him  so  :  but  if  he  was  fixed  upon,  it 
would  be  longer  before  the  scheme  could  take  effect,  and 
more  uncertain  whether  he  would  live  and  thrive.  This, 
however,  is  a  point  you  must  determine  for  us  :  we  shall 
acquiesce  in  either. 

You  are  very  favorable  to  my  fragments  ;  fragments,  how- 
ever, they  are  like  to  continue,  unless  I  had  a  little  more 
time.  I  want  much  to  see  your  Essays  ;  how  do  you  pro- 
ceed with  them  1     To  attack  Shakespeare  !  heresy,  indeed  ! 


88  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  V. 

I  will  desire  Mr.  Montague  to  chastise  you,  except  by  way 
of  penance  you  finish  the  ode  you  once  began  in  his  praise. 
I  am  of  your  opinion,  however,  that  we  idolize  Shakespeare 
rather  too  much  for  a  Christian  country.  That  inconsisten- 
cies may  be  found  in  his  characters  is  certain  :  yet,  notwith- 
standing that,  character  is  his  distinguishing  excellence  ;  and 
though  he  had  not  the  learning  of  the  schools  in  his  head, 
he  had  the  theatre  of  the  world  before  him,  and  could  make 
reflections  on  what  he  saw.  An  equal  vein  of  poetry  runs 
through  the  works  of  some  of  his  contemporaries  ;  but  his 
writings  are  most  peculiarly  marked  by  good  sense  and 
striking  characters ;  so  that  I  think  you  do  him  not  justice 
if  you  call  him  only  a  poet. 

Mrs.  Barbauld's  "  Lessons  for  Children  "  were  trans- 
lated into  the  French,  and  made,  one  of  an  excellent  series 
of  English  books  considered  worthy  of  being  used  in 
that  way.  In  the  preceding  letter  to  her  brother  she 
mentions  the  interest  taken  in  her  fragments.  Among 
these,  probably,  was  the  poem  of  which  Horace  Wal- 
pole,  in  writing  to  his  friend,  the  Eev.  William  Mason, 
himself  a  poet,  known  as  the  author  of  the  "  Garden  " 
and  some  tragedies,  says  :  "  Mrs.  Barbauld's  '  fragment ' 
was  excellent."  This  fragment  is  the  poem  on  "Au- 
tumn," and  will  be  found  among  her  other  works.  The 
following  letter  to  Miss  Dixon  contains  thanks  for 
some  needlework,  couched  in  a  very  pretty  fable. 


1777.]  •  CORRESPONDENCE.  89 

To  Miss  Dixon,  afterwards  Mrs.  Beecroft. 

Palgrave,  March  17,  1777. 

Arachne,  my  dear  Miss  Dixon,  —  so  goes  the  story,  — 
was  unfortunate  enough  to  incur  the  mortal  displeasure  of 
Minerva  by  too  pompous  a  display  of  her  skill  in  embroidery  ; 
and  since  that  event  very  few  ladies  who  have  courted  the 
favor  of  Minerva  have  chosen  to  run  the  hazard  of  provok- 
ing her  by  the  delicacy  of  their  needlework.  Now,  as  I 
do  not  believe  that  Arachne  or  Minerva  either  (no  dispraise 
to  her  goddess-ship)  ever  wrought  anything  prettier  than  the 
roses  you  have  been  so  obliging  as  to  send  me,  —  Flora,  in- 
deed, promises  to  produce  some  very  like  them  in  a  few 
months,  —  I  wonder  much  at  your  being  so  great  a  favorite 
with  the  goddess  as  I  find  you  are,  by  the  story  which 
accompanied  them,  and  that  she  thinks  proper  to  encourage 
you  in  handling  both  your  pen  and  your  needle  in  the  man- 
ner you  do.  Indeed,  my-  dear,  I  was  equally  surprised  and 
flattered  at  the  very  obliging  manner  in  which  you  have 
shown  that  you  remember  me ;  and  though  much  struck 
with  the  elegance  of  your  fancy  and  the  skilfnlness  of  your 
fingers,  I  am  still  more  delighted  with  the  proof  they  give 
me  of  your  regard  and  affection. 

It  is  generally  said  that  at  your  age  impressions  of  friend- 
ship are  easily  made  and  soon  worn  out ;  but  it  is  not  so 
with  you  ;  and,  to  say  the  truth,  I  should  be  mortified  if  it 
were,  for  I  have  myself  too  lively  and  pleasing  a  remem- 
brance of  the  happy  and  sportive  hours  we  enjoyed  together 
at  Thorpe,  not  to  wish  they  should  be  equally  dear  to  your 


90  LIFE   OF   MRS.    BAKBAULD.  [Chap.  V. 

mind.  My  thoughts,  as  well  as  Mr.  B.'s,  have  often  pursued 
you  since.  AVe  have  figured  you  as  amongst  your  sweet 
companions,  at  once  improving  your  heart  in  sensibility, 
accomplishing  yourself  in  all  that  is  elegant,  and  enjoying 
without  fear  or  anxiety  all  the  simple,  innocent,  cheerful 
pleasures  which  belong  to  that  period  of  life  you  are  now  in. 
Enjoy  and  relish  them  while  you  may.  You  will  never  be 
again,  —  I  do  not  say  so  happy,  for  I  hope  your  happiness 
will  ever  increase,  —  but  you  will  never  enjoy  again  the 
same  kind  of  happiness  which  you  do  now,  nor  with  so 
little  mixture  of  uneasiness  ;  and  the  way  to  prolong  it  is  to 
keep  as  late  as  possible  that  entire  openness,  simplicity,  and 
ingenuousness  which  is  the  beautiful  characteristic  of  your 
age. 

Another  of  these  pleasant  little  allegories  here  meets 
the  reader,  and  this  charming  tale  is  in  Mrs.  Bar- 
bauld's  peculiar  style  and  most  happy  manner.  That 
she  had  a  remarkable  talent  for  this  kind  of  composi- 
tion, is  not  to  be  doubted ;  and  this  is  one  of  her  best 
little  fables,  —  a  short  prose  poem,  one  may  call  it,  so 
smooth  and  perfect  is  the  language,  and  so  full  of  har- 
mony the  turn  of  expression.  The  conclusion  is  very 
nicely  made,  in  desiring  for  her  friend-  leisure  with- 
out ennui. 

Palgrave,  November  11. 
I  have  long  been  determined  to  seize  the  first  moment  of 
leisure  to  write  to  my  dear  Miss  Dixon  ;  but  leisure  is  one 
of  those  things  of  which  I  enjoy  the  least,  so  I  am  at  length 


1777.]  AN   ALLEGOEICAL  LETTER.  91 

determined  to  write  without  it.  By  the  way,  do  you  know 
the  pedigree  and  adventures  of  Leisure  ? . 

She  was  born  somewhere  amongst  the  Chaldean  shep- 
herds, where  she  became  a  favorite  of  Urania  ;  and,  having 
been  instructed  in  her  sublime  philosophy,  taught  men  to 
observe  the  course  of  the  stars,  and  to  mark  the  slow  revo- 
lution of  seasons.  The  next  we  hear  of  her  is  in  the  rural 
mountains  and  valleys  of  Arcadia.  In  this  delightful  abode 
her  charms  made  a  conquest  of  the  god  Pan,  who  would 
often  sit  whole  days  by  her  side,  tuning  his  pipe  of  unequal 
reeds.  By  him  she  had  two  beautiful  children,  Love  and 
Poetry,  the  darlings  of  the  shepherds,  who  received  them  in 
their  arms,  and  brought  them  up  amidst  the  murmur  of 
bees,  the  falls  of  water,  the  lowing  of  cattle,  and  the  various 
rural  and  peaceful  sounds  with  which  that  region  abounded. 
AVhen  the  Eomans  spread  the  din  of  arms  over  the  globe, 
Leisure  was  frightened  from  her  soft  retreats,  and  from  the 
cold  Scythian  to  the  tawny  Xumidian  could  scarcely  find  a 
corner  of  the  world  to  shelter  her  head  in.  AVhen  the  fierce 
Goth  and  Vandal  approached,  matters  were  still  worse,  and 
Leisure  took  refuge  in  a  convent  on  the  winding  banks  of  the 
Seine,  where  she  employed  herself  in  making  anagrams  and 
cutting  paper.  Her  retirement,  however,  did  not  pass  with- 
out censure,  for  it  is  said  she  had  an  intrigue  with  the  supe- 
rior of  the  convent,  and  that  the  offspring  of  this  amour  was 
a  daughter  named  Ennui. 

Mademoiselle  Ennui  was  wafted  over  to  England  in  a 
northeast  wind,  and  settled  herself  with  some  of  the  best 


92  LIFE   OF   MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  V. 

families  in  the  kingdom.  Indeed,  the  mother  seldom  makes 
any  long  residence  in  a  place  without  being  intruded  on  by 
the  daughter,  who  steals  in  and  seats  herself  silently  by  her 
side. 

I  hope,  however,  my  amiable  friend  is  now  enjoying  the 
company  of  the  mother  without  fear  of  a  visit  from  the 
daughter,  whom  her  taste  and  liveliness  will,  I  am  sure,  ever 
exclude  from  her  habitation. 

The  following  letter  to  her  brother,  in  acknowledg- 
ment of  his  new  book,  has  some  observations  on  poetry 
and  its  application  to  common  objects  which  seem 
very  just.  She  describes  a  little  of  her  employment  to 
him  in  the  school,  in  the  preparation  of  the  play  which 
the  boys  are  to  act ;  and  one  can  fancy  the  "  Tempest," 
under  her  able  management,  being  presented  very 
creditably  by  her  juvenile  performers.  Dr.  Aikin's 
keen  observation  of  nature,  and  his  love  for  natural 
objects,  led  him  to  study  the  botany  and  fauna  of  the 
region  where  he  resided,  and  his  professional  rides  were 
a  source  of  pleasure  to  him,  as  he  with  them  combined 

his  favorite  studies. 

Palgrave,  1777. 

You  have  given  us  too  much  pleasure  lately  not  to  de- 
serve an  earlier  acknowledgment.  I  hope  you  will  believe 
we  were  not  so  dilatory  in  reading  your  book  *  as  we  have 
been  in  thanking  you  for  it.     It  is  indeed  a  most  elegant 

*  An  Essay  on  the  Application  of  Natural  History  to  Poetry. 


1777.  J  CORRESPONDENCE.  93 

performance ;  your  thought  is  very  just,  and  has  never,  I 
believe,  been  pursued  before.  Both  the  defects  and  beauties 
which  you  have  noticed  are  very  striking,  and  the  result  of 
the  whole  work,  besides  the  truth  it  conveys,  is  a  most 
pleasing  impression  left  upon  the  mind  from  the  various  and 
picturesque  images  brought  into  view.  I  hope  your  Essay 
will  bring  down  our  poets  from  their  garrets,  to  wander 
about  the  fields  and  hunt  squirrels.  I  am  clearly  of  your 
opinion,  that  the  only  chance  we  have  for  novelty  is  by  a 
more  accurate  observation  of  the  works  of  nature,  though  I 
think  I  should  not  have  confined  the  track  quite  so  much  as 
you  have  done  to  the  animal  creation,  because  sooner  ex- 
hausted than  the  vegetable  ;  and  some  of  the  lines  you  have 
quoted  from  Thomson  show  with  how  much  advantage  the 
latter  may  be  made  the  subject  of  rich  description.  I  think, 
too,  since  you  put  me  on  criticising,  it  would  not  have  been 
amiss  if  you  had  drawn  between  the  poet  and  natural  his- 
torian, and  shown  how  far,  and  in  what  cases,  the  one  may 
avail  himself  of  the  knowledge  of  the  other,  —  at  what 
nice  period  that  knowledge  becomes  so  generally  spread  as 
to  authorize  the  poetical  describer  to  use  it  without  shocking 
the  ear  by  the  introduction  of  names  and  properties  not 
sufficiently  familiar,  and  when  at  the  same  time  it  retains 
novelty  enough  to  strike.  I  have  seen  some  rich  descrip- 
tions of  West  Indian  flowers  and  plants,  — just,  I  dare  say, 
but  unpleasing  merely  because  their  names  were  uncouth, 
and  forms  not  known  generally  enough  to  be  put  into  verse. 
It  is  not,  I  own,  much   to  the  credit  of  poets,  —  but  it  is 


94  LIFE   OF  .MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  V. 

true,  —  that  we  do  not  seem  disposed  to  take  their  word  for 
anything,  and  never  willingly  receive  information  from 
them. 

We  are  wondrous  busy  in  preparing  our  play,  "  The  Tem- 
pest " ;  and  four  or  five  of  our  little  ones  are  to  come  in  as 
fairies ;  and  I  am  piecing  scraps  from  the  "  Midsummer 
Night's  Dream,"  etc.,  to  make  a  little  scene  instead  of  the 
mask  of  Ceres  and  Juno.  We  have  read  Gibbon  lately, 
who  is  certainly  a  very  elegant  and  learned  writer,  and  a 
very  artful  one.  No  other  new  books  have  we  yet  seen,  — 
they  come  slow  to  Norfolk,  —  but  the  "  Diaboliad,"  the 
author  of  which  has  a  pretty  sharp  pen-knife,  and  cuts  up 
very  handsomely.  Many  are  the  literary  matters  I  want  to 
talk  over  with  you  when  we  meet,  which  I  now  look  for- 
ward to  as  not  a  far  distant  pleasure. 

We  will  come  and  endeavor  to  steal  away  Charles's  heart, 
before  we  run  away  with  his  person.  Adieu  !  Heaven 
bless  you  and  yours  ! 

Thanks  to  my  dear  Miss  Dixon  for  her  frank  and  affec- 
tionate letter.  A  thousand  good  wishes  attend  her  ;  but,  as 
I  hope  to  breathe  them  soon  from  my  lips,  I  shall  spare  my 
pen  a  task  to  which  it  is  not  adequate. 

You  have  rejoiced  my  heart  by  allowing  me  to  hope  that 
we  shall  still  see  you  at  Palgrave  before  the  important  event 
takes  place.  If  you  had  not  acknowledged  that  you  were 
going  to  be  married,  I  should  naturally  have  concluded  it 
from  your  saying  you  have  not  time  to  read  "  Cecilia."  Not 
time  to  read  a  novel !  —  that  is  so  grave  !     Nay,  if  I  had  not 


1777.]  CORRESPONDENCE.  95 

known  you,  I  should  have  supposed  you  had  been  actually 
married  a  dozen  years  at  least.  But  you  must  read  "  Cecilia," 
and  you  must  read  Hayley's  poem,  and  you  may  read  Scott's 
poems  if  you  like,  and  at  least  you  must  look  at  the 
plates,  etc. 

Mrs.  Chapone,  the  gifted  friend  of  Miss  Elizabeth 
Carter,  and  better  known,  under  her  maiden  name  of 
Mulso,  as  the  intimate  and  companion  of  Samuel 
Richardson  the  novelist  in  her  early  years,  met  Mrs. 
Barbauld  in  1775.  In  a  letter  to  a  friend,  Mrs.  Cha- 
pone, in  regretting  her  enforced  "  exile  "  from  London 
and  its  society,  says  that  the  illness  of  her  aunt  has 
deprived  her  of  the  pleasure  of  meeting  many  delightful 
acquaintances.  One  only  of  these  she  names,  —  "  Mrs. 
Barbauld  in  particular  I  regret,  as  the  opportunities  of 
cultivating  her  acquaintance  are  so  scarce  and  valuable. 
I  am  very  glad  to  find  you  improve  your  opportunities 
so  well,  for  I  entirely  agree  with  you  in  your  idea  of 
her  character,  and  think  her  a  prize  not  to  be  neglected. 
I  wish  you  would  institute  a  correspondence  with  her; 
for,  notwithstanding  the  cold  caution  which  age  brings 
upon  me  every  day,  I  cannot  help  being  strongly  in- 
clined, on  the  evidence  before  me,  to  give  her  credit 
for  all  those  qualities  of  the  heart  and  temper  which 
must  be  joined  to  her  great  understanding  to  make  her 
worthy  of  your  friendship.  I  regret  particularly  the 
snug  day  at  my  brother's."  * 

*  Mr.  Mulso. 


90  LIFE   OF  MRS.    BARBAULD.    .  [Chap.  VI. 


GHAPTEE    VI. 

Mrs.  Barbauld  takes  Charge  of  some  Young  Scholars.  —  Writes 
the  "Prose  Hymns."  — Her  Aim  in  writing  them. —Visits 
London.  —Letters  to  Dr.  Aikin.  —Visits  Norwich.—  Peculiari- 
ties of  the  Old  Town.  —  Letters  to  Miss  More.  —  Miss  More's 
Poem  on  "Sensibility."  —  Address  to  Mrs.  Barbauld.  —  Dr. 
Aikin  removes  to  Yarmouth.  —  Visit  to  London  in  the 
Christmas  Holidays.  —  Meets  many  Friends  there.  —  Joseph 
Johnson,  her  Publisher.  —  Miss  Burney.  —  Letters. 

MES.  BAEBAULD'S  success  in  teaching,  and  sin- 
gular devotion  to  the  young  children  under  her 
charge,  induced  several  gentlemen  to  persuade  her  to 
assume  the  personal  care  and  instruction  of  their  little 
boys,  and  she  received  some  at  the  early  age  of  four  years. 
Among  these  boys  was  Thomas  Denman,  afterwards  a 
distinguished  member  of  the  legal  profession.  Lord 
Denman  was  eminent  for  his  liberal  political  views,  sa- 
gacity and  ability  as  a  lawyer,  and  integrity  in  his  pro- 
fessional relations.  He  held  many  high  offices,  being 
Lord  Chief  Justice,  and  created  for  his  various  services 
a  peer  of  the  realm.  Miss  Aikin,  writing  to  Dr.  Chan- 
ning  of  Lord  Denman's  taking  leave  of  Lincoln's  Inn 
Court  in  consequence  of  his  promotion  to  the  position 


1777.]  ATTACHMENT   OF   HER   PUPILS.  97 

of  the  Chief  Justice,  mentions  the  speech  made  on  this 
occasion  by  his  old  friend  the  Vice-Chancellor,  and  then 
adds,  "  This  glorious  man  —  by  the  way,  Ins  person  is 
made  for  dignity  —  was  Mrs.  Barbauld's  pupil  at  four 
years  old.  I  think  it  must  have  been  chiefly  for  him 
that  her  '  Hymns  in  Prose  '  were  written.  He  cherishes 
her  memory  most  religiously.  In  a  great  public  enter- 
tainment where  I  met  him  last  year,  he  came  up  to  me 
and  said,  with  a  look  of  delight,  CI  dreamed  of  Mrs.  Bar- 
bauld  only  last  night.'  He  has  a  love  and  taste  for  poetry 
and  elegant  literature  worthy  of  her  scholar,  and  I  doubt 
not  that  she  sowed  the  seed."  This  letter  was  written  in 
1832.  -In  another  of  an  earlier  date,  Miss  Aikin  described 
her  own  feelings  on  the  subject  of  the  "Prose  Hymns  " 
to  the  same  valued  friend  :  "  Of  all  the  products  of  my 
Aunt  Barbauld's  fine  genius,  which  you  have  commem- 
orated in  a  manner  most  gratifying  to  my  feelings,  there 
is  none  which  during  my  whole  life  I  have  prized  so 
highly  as  her  "  Hymns  for  Children  "  ;  by  which,  with 
the  most  delightful  allurements  of  style,  the  infant  mind 
is  insensibly  led  to  look  up  through  all  which  it  beholds, 
whether  of  animate  or  inanimate,  physical  or  moral 
nature,  to  the  infinitely  wise  and  beneficent  cause  of 
all."  Another  of  these  infant  pupils  of  Mrs.  Barbauld 
was  in  after  years  the  celebrated  antiquarian  and  clas- 
sical scholar,  Sir  William  Gell,  the  distinguished  ex- 
plorer of   the  Plain  of  Troy  and  Pompeii.     As  Miss 


98  LIFE   OF  MBS.   BARBAULD.       •        [Chap.  VI. 

Aikin  states,  it  was  for  the  use  of  this  infant  class  that 
Mrs.  Barbauld  wrote  her  beautiful  prose  hymns. 

She,  herself,  in  the  Preface,  says  of  the  Hymns  and 
her  object  in  writing  them,  it  was  "  the  peculiar  design 
of  this  publication  ....  to  impress  devotional  feelings 
as  early  as  possible  on  the  infant  mind;  fully  convinced, 
as  the  author  is,  that  they  cannot  be  impressed  too 
soon,  and  that  a  child,  to  feel  the  full  force  of  the  idea 
of  God,  ought  never  to  remember  the  time  when  he 
had  no  such  idea,  —  to  impress  them,  by  connecting 
religion  with  a  variety  of  sensible  objects,  with  all  that 
he  sees,  all  he  hears,  all  that  affects  his  young  mind 
with  wonder  or  delight ;  and  thus  by  deep,  strong,  and 
permanent  associations  to  lay  the  best  foundation  for 
practical  devotion  in  future  life."  One  sentence  alone 
in  the  Hymns  seems  to  be  worth  volumes  of  instruc- 
tion to  the  thoughtless  or  inconsiderate  who  may  have 
the  care  of  children,  —  "  Eespect  in  the  infant  the  future 
man.  Destroy  not  in  the  man  the  rudiments  of  an 
angel."  Too  much  cannot  be  said  of  the  simple  beauty 
and  absolute  perfection  of  the  Hymns.  Called  prose  by 
their  gifted  author,  they  abound  in  the  most  harmonious 
periods,  and  pure,  elevating  imagery  of  true  poetry, 
and  must  strongly  impress  their  claim  and  value  upon 
all  who  read  them ;  and  each  fresh  reading  will  only 
strengthen  the  admiration  and  pleasure  they  impart. 
Written  for  the  very  young,  they  cannot  fail  to  affect 


1777.]  HER  PROSE  HYMNS.  99 

the  intelligent,  cultivated,  and  well-developed  mind  by 
their  gradually  elevated  tone  of  thought,  simple  though 
it  be,  and  the  purity,  devotional  spirit,  and  charming 
style  of  expression  so  peculiarly  adapted  for  the  ideas 
and  religious  teachings  they  convey. 

In  Miss  Aikin's  sketch  of  her  own  early  life,  she 
alludes  to  the  love  of  nature  awakened  in  her  mind  by 
her  observing  and  intelligent  father,  and  adds :  "  This 
interest  was  inexpressibly  exalted  by  Mrs.  Barbauld's 
1  Prose  Hymns,'  which  were  taught  me  I  know  not  how 
soon.  Her  '  Early  Lessons '  had  prepared  the  way,  for 
in  them  too  there  dwells  the  spirit  of  poetry ;  but  the 
Hymns  gave  me  the  idea  of  something  bright  and  glo- 
rious hung  on  high  above  my  present  reach,  but  not 
above  my  aspirations.  They  first  gave  me  the  sen- 
timent of  sublimity,  and  of  the  Author  of  all  that  is 
sublime.  They  taught  me  piety."  These  Hymns  are, 
and  will  remain,  unequalled  for  their  spirit  of  pure,  ex- 
alted devotion,  deep  yet  simple  thought,  and  the  grand- 
est purity  of  style,  which  renders  them  attractive  and 
profoundly  interesting  to  the  mind  of  the  little  child, 
while  that  impression  must  also  be  felt  by  all  who  read 
them. 

Palgrave,  1777. 
I  am  happy  that  I  can  now  tell  you  we  are  all  safe  at  Pal- 
grave, where  we  arrived  last  night  about  ten  o'clock.    Charles 
has  indeed  been  an  excellent  traveller,  and  though,  like  his 


100  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  VI. 

great  ancestor,  "  some  natural  tears  lie  shed,"  like  him,  too, 
"  he  wiped  them  soon."  He  had  a  long,  sound  sleep  last  night, 
and  has  been  very  busy  to-day,  hunting  the  puss  and  the 
chickens.  And  now,  my  dear  brother  and  sister,  let  me 
again  thank  you  for  this  precious  gift,  the  value  of  which 
we  are  both  more  and  more  sensible  of  as  we  become  better 
acquainted  with  his  sweet  disposition  and  winning  manners. 
As  well  as  a  gift,  it  is  a  solemn  trust,  and  it  shall  be  our 
study  to  fulfil  that  trust.  The  thought  of  what  parents  we 
have  taken  him  from  will  be  a  constant  motive  for  our  care, 
tenderness,  and  affection. 

Remember  us  most  affectionately  to  Dr.  and  Mrs.  E 

and   Betsy  ,  and  give  a  kiss  for   me  to  Arthur  and 

George  ;  and  so  you  may  to  Betsy,  now  I  think  of  it. 

Everybody  here  asks,  "Pray,  is  Dr.  Dodd  really  to  be 
executed  1 "  as  if  we  knew  the  more  for  having  been  at 
Warrington. 

Palgrave,  January  19,  1778. 
It  is  real  concern  to  me  that  I  could  not  write  to  you  from 

London Let  me  now,  then,  begin  with  telling  you 

that  we  too,  Miss  B ,  and  one  of  our  boys,  got  safe  to 

Palgrave  this  afternoon.  And  now  for  the  first  time  Mr. 
Barbauld  and  I  experienced  the  pleasure  of  having  something 
to  come  home  for,  and  of  finding  our  dear  Charles  in  perfect 
health  and  glad  to  see  us  again ;  though  wondering  a  little, 
and  rather  grave  the  first  half-hour.  Well,  and  what  have 
you  seen,  you  will  say,  in  London  1  Why,  in  the  first  place, 
Miss  More's  new  play,  which  fills  the  house  very  well,  and 


1778.]  VISIT  TO   LONDON.  101 

is  pretty  generally  liked.  Miss  More  is,  I  assure  you,  very 
much  the  ton,  and  moreover  has  got  six  or  seven  hundred 
pounds  by  her  play  :  I  wish  I  could  produce  one  every  two 
winters  ;  we  would  not  keep  school.  I  cannot  say,  however, 
that  I  cried  altogether  so  much  at  "  Percy  "  as  I  laughed  at 
"  The  School  for  Scandal,"  which  is  one  of  the  wittiest  plays 
I  remember  to  have  seen ;  and,  I  am  sorry  to  add,  one  of  the 
most  immoral  and  licentious,  —  in  principle,  I  mean,  for  in 
language  it  is  very  decent.  Mrs.  Montague,  not  content 
with  being  the  queen  of  literature  and  elegant  society,  sets 
up  for  the  queen  of  fashion  and  splendor.  She  is  building 
a  very  fine  house,  has  a  very  fine  service  of  plate,  dresses  and 
visits  more  than  ever ;  and  I  am  afraid  will  be  full  as  much 
the  woman  of  the  world  as  the  philosopher.  Pray,  have 
you  read  a  book  to  prove  Falstaff  no  coward  1  I  want  to 
know  what  you  think  of  it  :  the  present  age  deals  in  para- 
doxes. A  new  play  of  Cumberland's  and  another  of 
Home's  are  soon  to  come  out.  Charles's  little  book  is  very 
well,  but  my  idea  is  not  executed  in  it ;  I  must  therefore  beg 
you  will  print  one  as  soon  as  you  can,  on  fine  paper,  on  one 
side  only,  and  more  space  and  a  clearer  line  for  the  chapters. 
Prefix,  if  you  please,  to  that  you  are  going  to  print,  the 
following 

Advertisement. 

This  little  publication  was  made  for  a  particular  child,  but 
the  public  is  welcome  to  the  use  of  it.  It  was  found  that  amidst 
the  multitude  of  books  professedly  written  for  children,  there  is 
not  one  adapted  to  the  comprehension  of  a  child  from  two  to 


102  LIFE   OF   MRS.    BARBAULD.        -       [Chap.  VI. 

three  years  old.  A  grave  remark,  or  a  connected  story,  however 
simple,  is  above  his  capacity,  and  nonsense  is  always  below  it ; 
for  folly  is  worse  than  ignorance.  Another  great  defect  is  the  want 
of  good  paper,  a  clear  and  large  type,  and  large  spaces.  Those  only 
who  have  actually  taught  young  children  can  be  sensible  how 
necessary  these  assistances  are.  The  eye  of  a  child  and  of  a 
learner  cannot  catch,  as  ours  can,  a  small,  obscure,  ill-formed  word 
amidst  a  number  of  others  all  equally  unknown  to  him.  To 
supply  these  deficiencies  is  the  object  of  this  book.  The  task  is 
humble,  but  not  mean  ;  for  to  lay  the  first  stone  of  a  noble 
building,  and  to  plant  the  first  idea  in  a  human  mind,  can  be  no 
dishonor  to  any  hand. 

In  this  letter  to  her  brother,  and  in  the  advertise- 
ment, the  reader  will  see  from  Mrs.  Barbauld's  own 
words  that  she  held  it  no  trifling  responsibility  to  write 
for  children  well ;  and  her  sentiment  on  the  subject  is 
certainly  noble  and  true.  She  also  tells  him  of  her 
visit  to  London  and  her  laughter  at  Sheridan's  new 
play,  "  The  School  for  Scandal,"  and  how  she  wept  at 
Miss  More's  new  tragedy,  "  Percy."  Her  letter  contains 
a  description  of  Mrs.  Montague's  new  house.  That 
lady,  not  being  content  with  being  the  head  of  a  literary 
set  which  she  adorned  by  her  talents  and  taste,  aspired 
to  greater  conquests  and  social  successes,  and  had  built 
herself  a  new  and  elegant  mansion,  known  as  Montague 
House,  in  Portman  Square.  Until  recently  this  house 
was  quite  as  she  left  it  externally;  but  the  hand  of 
change   has   begun   its  work,  and  already  it  is  much 


1773.]  CORRESPONDENCE.  103 

altered  by  what  are  termed  "modern  improvements." 
In  Mrs.  Montague's  own  letters,  she  tells  her  friends 
some  of  her  trials  in  getting  it  completed ;  but  at  last 
it  was  finished,  and  quite  eclipsed  the  house  in  Hill 
Street,  where  she  had  so  long  gathered  round  her  a 
circle  of  eminent  people.  Montague  House  was  more 
magnificent  than  the  earlier  residence ;  but  the  circle 
was  also  much  larger,  less  free  from  formality,  and  less 

social. 

Palgrave,  1778. 

'T  is  well  I  got  a  letter  from  Warrington  when  I  did,  — 
very  well  indeed ;  for  I  began  to  be  in  such  a  fury,  and 
should  have  penned  you  such  a  chiding !  Do  you  know, 
pray,  how  long  it  is  since  I  heard  from  any  of  you  1  But,  as 
I  do  sometimes  offend  myself,  I  think  I  will  forgive  you, 
especially  as  I  wonder  how  you  find  time  even  to  read,  with 
labors  so  multifarious  (as  Johnson  says)  going  forward.     The 

fate  of  Miss  B 's  letter  is  very  remarkable.    It  was  written 

as  full  —  I  am  sorry  to  mortify  you,  my  dear  sister  —  as 
the  paper  would  hold,  folded,  sealed,  directed,  and  put  some- 
where ;  but  when  I  had  finished  mine,  and  wanted  it  to  put 
in  the  frank,  it  could  be  found  nowhere.  'T  is  needless  to 
tell  you  how  the  paper-case  was  cleared,  the  cupboard  routed 
out,  pockets  searched,  and  everybody  who  had  entered  the 
room  squinted  at  with  an  evil  eye  of  suspicion.  The  letter 
has  never  made  its  appearance  to  this  day  •  and,  what  vexes 

Miss  B is,  that  Patty  can  but  be  in  her  debt,  and  that  she 

was  before.   Now  half  this  letter,  she  says,  was  about  Charles, 


104  LIFE   OF   MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  VI. 

which  may  serve  to  excuse  me,  who  finished  in  a  violent 
hurry.  I  left  him  to  the  last,  but  was  obliged  to  conclude 
abruptly.  I  am  afraid  to  tell  you  much  about  him,  lest  you 
should  fall  in  love  with  him  again,  and  send  somebody  to 
kidnap  him ;  though  I  think  Charles  would  have  a  good 
many  defenders  in  this  house  if  you  did.  You  will  see  by 
the  enclosed  I  have  been  employing  my  pen  again  for  him, 
and  again  I  must  employ  you  to  get  it  printed. 

Palgrave,  January  20,  1779. 

You  are  a  pretty  fellow  to  grumble,  as  my  mother  says 
you  do,  at  my  not  writing  !  Do  not  you  remember,  when 
you  sent  a  sheet  of  Charles's  book,  you  said  you  did  not 
mean  the  line  you  sent  with  it  for  a  letter,  but  would  write 
soon  ?  so  that  by  your  own  confession  you  are  now  in  debt 
to  me.  Charles  bore  a  part  in  our  examination,  by  repeating 
a  copy  of  verses  on  the  boy  who  would  not  say  A,  lest  he 
should  be  made  to  say  B  ;  and  we,  let  me  tell  you,  deserve 
great  praise  for  our  modesty  and  self-denial  in  not  making  a 
parade  with  his  Greek,  for  he  could  have  repeated  an  ode  of 
Anacreon.  But,  notwithstanding  this  erudition,  a  few  Eng- 
lish books  will  still  be  very  acceptable. 

We  are  just  returned  from  Norwich,  where  we  have  been 
so  much  engaged  with  dinners  and  suppers  that,  though  I 
fully  intended  to  write  from  thence,  and  began  a  letter,  I 
really  could  not  finish  it.  The  heads  of  all  the  Norwich 
people  are  in  a  whirl,  occasioned  by  the  routs  which  have 
been  introduced  amongst  them  this  winter ;  and  such  a 
bustle,  with  writing   cards  a  month   beforehand,   throwing 


1779.]  NORWICH   IX   THE  LAST  CENTURY.  105 

down  partitions,  moving  beds,  etc. !  Do  you  know  the 
different  terms  1  There  is  a  squeeze,  a  fuss,  a  drum,  a  rout, 
and  lastly  a  hurricane,  when  the  whole  house  is  full  from 
top  to  bottom.  It  is  matter  of  great  triumph  to  me  that  we 
enjoy  the  latter  for  ten  months  in  the  year. 

In  this  letter  of  January,  1779,  Mrs.  Barbauld  alludes 
to  a  visit  they  had  just  made  in  Norwich,  then  a  city 
of  considerable  social  and  literary  activity,  which  has 
long  since  departed,  leaving  it  at  the  present  time  a 
dull,  provincial  place.  At  that  time  it  boasted  of  being 
the  birthplace  and  residence  of  several  literary  men, 
and  there  were  many  old  families  whose  wealth  and 
hospitality  made  it  celebrated  in  the  last  century. 
The  manufacturing  interest  also  was  large,  and  brought 
prosperity  and  affluence  to  the  inhabitants.  The  names 
of  the  Taylors,  Enfields,  Sayerses,  Smiths,  Martineaus, 
and  Mrs.  Opie  will  give  a  hint  of  the  class  of  cul- 
tivated, intellectual  people  who  gave  the  old  city  its 
literary  prominence  for  a  time.  Add  to  this  set  of 
literary  people  the  fact  of  its  being  the  site  of  a  cathe- 
dral, and  one  can  fancy  the  stately  Church  people  who 
would  bring  with  them  an  air  of  refinement,  elegant 
manners,  and  dignity  becoming  their  connection  with 
one  of  the  oldest  and  finest  cathedrals  in  the  kingdom. 
Miss  Martineau,  in  her  sketch  of  Mrs.  Opie,  describes 
some  of  the  peculiarities  and  provincial  oddities  of 
Norwich  in  the  latter  half  of  the  last  century.     She 


106  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  VI. 

compares  its  literary  coterie,  and  the  conceit  and  ped- 
antry of  its  members,  to  that  of  Lichfield,  which  is  still 
remembered,  and  adds  that  "  Norwich  was  very  like 
Lichfield,  ....  only  with  less  sentimentality,  and  with 
some  additional  peculiarities  of  its  own.  It  had  its 
cathedral,  but  neither  the  proverbial  dulness  nor  the  all- 
conquering  High-Churchism  of  most  cathedral  towns : 
the  liberality  of  good  Bishop  Bathurst  prevented  the 
latter  during  the  long  course  of  his  episcopate ;  and  the 
manufactures  of  Norwich  preserved  it  from  stagnation: 
It  is  true  that  "when  invasion  was  expected,  the 
Church  and  Tory  gentry  set  a  watch  upon  the  cathedral, 
lest  the  Dissenters  should  burn  it  for  a  beacon  to 
1  Boney ' ;  and  the  manufacturers  who  were  of  Liberal 
opinions  were  not  accepted  as  volunteers,  but  were 
simply  intrusted  with  the  business  of  providing  for 
the  conveyance  of  the  women  and  children  into  the 
interior  whenever  the  French  should  land  at  Yarmouth 
or  Cromer.  But  still,  while  Bishop  Bathurst  touched 
his  hat  to  the  leading  Dissenters  of  the  place,  and 
Norwich  goods  were  in  demand  for  the  Spanish  and 
Portuguese  markets,  the  old  city  could  not  stagnate  like 

other   cathedral   towns When   William   Taylor 

became  eminent  as  almost  the  only  German  scholar  in 
England,  old  Norwich  wras  very  proud,  and  grew,  to  say 
the  truth,  excessively  conceited.  She  was  (and  she  might 
be)  proud  of  her  Sayers  •  and  Dr.  Sayers  was  a  scholar. 


17S3.]  LETTER   TO  HANNAH   MORE.  107 

She  boasted  of  Laving  produced  several  men  who  had 
produced  books  of  one  sort  or  another  (and  to  produce 
a  book  of  any  sort  was  a  title  to  reverence  in  those 
days).  She  boasted  of  her  intellectual  supper-parties, 
where,  amidst  a  pedantry  which  would  now  make 
Laughter  hold  both  his  sides,  there  was  much  that  was 
pleasant  and  salutary;  and  finally  she  called  herself 
the  Athens  of  England."  In  her  conclusion,  this  gifted 
daughter  of  old  Norwich  sums  up  its  departed  glories 
by  saying,  "  Its  bombazine  manufacture  has  gone  to 
Yorkshire,  and  its  literary  fame  to  the  four  winds." 
Mrs.  Barbauld's  letter  tells  us  of  these  "  intellectual 
supper-parties,"  and  we  can  fancy  that  Mrs.  Barbauld 
must  have  been  well  feted  by  these  good  people,  from 
her  intimate  knowledge  of  all  their  gayety. 

From  Mrs.  Barbauld  to  Miss  H.  More. 

Palgraye,  November,  1783. 
Dear  Madam,  —  If  any  one  were  to  ask  me  whether  Miss 
More  and  Mrs.  Barbauld  correspond,  I  should  say,  "  AVe  cor- 
respond, I  hope,  in  sentiment,  in  inclinations,  in  affections ; 
but  with  the  pen  I  really  cannot  say  we  do.  Her  pen  is 
better  employed,  and  mine,  alas !  is  seldom  employed  at  all 
but  in  the  routine  of  business."  I  cannot,  however,  always 
repress  the  desire  of  hearing  how  you  do,  and  of  letting  you 
know  there  is  one  in  a  corner  of  Norfolk  whose  heart  pre- 
serves in  their  full  glow  the  love  and  esteem  with  which  vou 


108  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  VI. 

have  long  ago  inspired  it.  These  sentiments  have  received 
a  fresh  accession  of  strength  by  the  sight  of  your  "  Sacred 
Dramas,"  a  work  I  have  expected  with  impatience  ever  since 
you  favored  me  with  a  peep  at  "  Moses."  It  is  too  late,  my 
dear  Miss  More,  to  compliment  you  on  the  execution  of  your 
pleasing  plan ;  but  you  must  give  me  leave  to  mention  how 
sensibly  I  was  touched  with  pleasure  on  seeing  the  tribute 
you  have  paid  to  friendship,  in  the  obliging  lines  which  soon 
caught  my  eye  in  the  sweet  poem  annexed  to  the  Dramas. 
It  was  a  sensible  mortification  to  me  that  I  did  not  meet 
you  in  London  last  Christmas ;  perhaps  I  shall  be  more 
fortunate  this  vacation.  We  mean  to  spend  part  of  it  at 
Bristol,  at  Mr.  Estlin's ;  and  if  you  are  in  Bristol  then,  I 
need  not  say  how  great  an  addition  it  will  be  to  the  happi- 
ness we  hope  to  enjoy  there. 

We  have  lately  been  reading  Mr.  Soame  Jenyns's  Essays ; 
you  have  seen  them,  no  doubt.  I  think,  too,  that  you  will 
agree  with  me  in  pronouncing  many  of  them  very  ingenious 
and  very  whimsical.  Wrhat,  for  instance,  do  you  think  of  the 
idea  of  coming  into  this  world  to  be  punished  for  old  offences  1 
How  would  it  sound,  think  you,  if  people  were  to  date,  — 
1  In  the  twentieth  year  of  my  imprisonment,  from  my  cell  in 
such  a  place '  ?  What  discomfort  must  it  be  to  a  poor  creature, 
whose  lot  is  poverty  and  affliction  here,  instead  of  promising 
himself  his  portion  of  good  things  hereafter,  to  think  that 
he  is  only  paying  off  old  scores !  If  Mr.  Soame  Jenyns 
has  the  gout,  for  instance,  as  many  worthy  people  have,  it 
must  be  pleasant  to  hear  the  corollaries  he  cannot  but  deduce 
from  it. 


1783.]  MISS   MORE'S   TRIBUTE   TO    HER.  109 

But  I  ran  on  till  I  am  afraid  I  shall  oblige  you  to  try  to 
recollect  some  peccadillo  in  your  pre-existent  state,  for  which 
you  are  troubled  with  this  letter ;  therefore,  that  I  may  not 
lie  heavy  upon  your  conscience,  as  well  as  exercise  your 
patience,  I  will  bid  you  adieu,  after  delivering  Mr.  Barbauld's 
compliments  and  best  wishes. 
I  am,  my  dear  madam, 

Your  affectionate  friend  and  obedient  servant, 

A.  L.  Barbauld. 

This  letter  to  Miss  More  is  in  acknowledgment  of 
the  new  book  just  published,  the  "  Sacred  Dramas," 
which  was  sent  to  her  by  its  amiable  and  talented 
author;  and  Mrs.  Barbauld  tells  her  how  deeply  she 
was  affected  by  the  beautiful  lines  addressed  to  her- 
self in  the  poem  on  "  Sensibility."  This  poetical  epis- 
tle, addressed  to  the  Hon.  Mrs.  Boscawen,  eulogizes 
true  friendship  among  women,  and  in  it  Miss  More 
depicts  the  charms  and  character  of  some  of  the  dis- 
tinguished- women  of  the  period.  I  have  already  taken 
a  few  lines  from  her  character  of  Mrs.  Boscawen,  and 
will  now  quote  that  part  which  contains  a  true  and 
graceful  tribute  to  her  friend  Mrs.  Barbauld.  After  a 
glowing  apostrophe  to  the  modern  school  of  poetry  and 
art  and  the  new  beauties  which  they  displayed,  and  the 
expression  of  a  hope  that  Mrs.  Boscawen  will  accept 
these  unpolished  lays,  — 

"  Noi  blame  too  much  the  verse  you  cannot  praise," 


110  LIFE   OF   MRS.   BARBAULD.  Chap.  VI.] 

Miss  More  continues  her  address  to  Mrs.  Boscawen :  — 

"  Yes,  still  for  you  your  gentle  stars  dispense 
The  charm  of  friendship  and  the  feast  of  sense  : 
Yours  is  the  bliss,  and  Heaven  no  dearer  sends, 
To  call  the  wisest,  brightest,  best  your  friends. 
And  while  to  these  I  raise  the  votive  line, 
0  let  me  grateful  own  these  friends  are  mine ; 
"With  Carter  trace  the  wit  to  Athens  known, 
Or  view  in  Montague  that  wit  our  own : 
Or  mark,  well  pleased,  Chapone's  instructive  page, 
Intent  to  raise  the  morals  of  the  age. 
Or  boast,  in  Walsingham,  the  various  power 
To  cheer  the  lonely,  grace  the  lettered  hour : 
Delany,  too,  is  ours,  serenely  bright, 
Wisdom's  strong  ray,  and-  virtue's  milder  light : 
And  she  who  blessed  the  friend,  and  graced  the  lays 
Of  poignant  Swift,  still  gilds  our  social  days  ; 
Long,  long  protract  thy  light,  0  star  benign  ! 
"Whose  setting  beams  with  milder  lustre  shine. 
Nor,  Barbauld,  shall  my  glowing  heart  refuse 
Its  tribute  to  thy  virtues  or  thy  Muse  ; 
This  humble  merit  shall  at  least  be  mine, 
The  poets'  chaplet  for  thy  brow  to  twine ; 
My  verse  thy  talents  to  the  world  shall  teach, 
And  praise  the  genius  it  despairs  to  reach. 
Yet  what  is  wit,  and  what  the  poet's  art  ? 
Can  genius  shield  the  vulnerable  heart  ? 
Ah,  no  !  where  bright  imagination  reigns, 
The  fine-wrought  spirit  feels  acuter  pains  ; 
"Where  glow  exalted  sense  and  taste  refined, 
There  keener  anguish  rankles  in  the  mind  ; 
There,  feeling  is  diffused  through  every  part, 


1784.]  REMOVAL   OF   DR.   AIKIN.  Ill 

Thrills  in  each  nerve,  and  lives  in  all  the  heart ; 
And  those  whose  generous  souls  each  tear  would  keep 
From  others'  eyes,  are  born  themselves  to  weep. 
Can  all  the  boasted  powers  of  wit  and  song, 
Of  life  one  pang  remove,  one  hour  prolong  ? 
Fallacious  hope  !  which  daily  truths  deride  ; 
For  you,  alas  !  have  wept,  and  Garrick  died  !  " 

Dr.  Aikin  was  not  satisfied  with  his  professional 
prospects  at  Warrington,  and  the  social  charms  of  the 
place  had  very  much  fallen  off,  as  the  Academy  became 
less  popular  and  successful.  The  little  circle  of  tutors 
and  their  families,  who  made  up  the  pleasant  intercourse 
of  the  town,  was  broken  by  death  and  the  removal  of 
those  connected  with  it.  His  father's  death,  his  sister's 
marriage,  and  the  changes  at  the  Academy,  all  had  their 
influence  on  the  small  group  of  intelligent  and  genial 
friends,  and  deprived  the  place  of  its  superior  attrac- 
tions and  adyantages  for  a  professional  and  literary 
man.  He  resolved,  therefore,  to  remove  to  a  better 
situation  for  professional  advancement ;  and,  being  told 
that  Yarmouth  was  in  need  of  the  best  medical  advice, 
he  took  up  his  abode  there  for  a  time,  only  to  find  that 
the  opportunity  for  practice  was  smaller  than  he  had 
been  led  to  suppose.  His  mother,  who  resided  with 
him  after  the  death  of  Dr.  Aikin  the  elder,  accompanied 
the  family  on  their  journey.  Miss  Lucy  Aikin,  in  her 
"Early  Recollections,"  writes  of  the  year  1784:  "My 
grandmother,  her  maid,  my  little  brother,  and  myself 


112  LIFE   OF   MBS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  VI. 

were  packed  in  a  post-chaise  ;  my  father  accompanied  us 
on  horseback.  It  was  Christmas  week,  the  snow  deep  on 
the  ground;  the  whole  distance  was  two  hundred  and 
forty  miles  across  the  country,  and  we  were  six  days  in 
accomplishing  it.  The  last  night  we  spent  at  my  aunt 
Mrs.  Barbauld's  house  at  Palgrave,  where  my  grand- 
mother remained  behind ;  she  died  in  a  few  days,  of  the 
cold  and  fatigue  of  the  journey."  This  must  have  been 
a  fresh  blow  to  the  affectionate  and  sensitive  heart  of 
Mrs.  Barbauld,  already  much  saddened  by  the  death 
of  her  father.  In  her  poetical  epistle  to  her  friend  Dr. 
Enfield,  on  his  revisiting  Warrington  in  1789,  she  con- 
cludes with  these  pathetic  lines,  which  indicate  how 
tenderly  she  cherished  the  memories  and  happiness 
of  departed  days,  spent  with  her  parents  at  her  early 
home. 

"Were  it,  like  thine,  my  lot  once  more  to  tread 
Plains  now  but  seen  in  distant  perspective, 
"With  that  soft  hue,  that  dubious  gloom  o'erspread, 
That  tender  tint  which  only  time  can  give  ; 

How  would  it  open  every  secret  cell 
Where  cherished  thought  and  fond  remembrance  sleep  ! 
How  many  a  tale  each  conscious  step  would  tell ! 
How  many  a  parted  friend  these  eyes  would  weep  ! 

But,  O  the  chief  !  —  If  in  thy  feeling  breast 
The  tender  charities  of  life  reside, 
If  there  domestic  love  have  built  her  nest, 
And  thy  fond  heart  a  parent's  care  divide ; 


1784.]  THE   SCHOOL  AT   PALGRAVE.  113 

Go,  seek  the  turf  where  worth,  where  wisdom  lies, 
"Wisdom  and  worth,  ah,  never  to  return  ! 
There  kneeling,  weep  my  tears,  and  breathe  my  sighs, 
A  daughter's  sorrows  o'er  her  father's  urn  ! 

The  school  at  Palgrave  was  full  and  prosperous,  and 
the  scholars  were  from  the  families  of  noblemen  and 
gentlemen  of  the  best  class.  Among  these  may  be 
named  Basil,  Lord  Daer,  a  favorite  pupil,  whom  Mrs. 
Barbauld  often  mentions  in  her  letters  written  long 
after  this  as  one  whom  she  knew  well,  and  loved. 
Three  of  his  brothers,  one  of  whom  was  the  last  Earl  of 
Selkirk,  two  sons  of  Lord  Templetown,  Lord  More, 
Lord  Aghrim,  and  the  Hon.  Augustus  Phipps,  were 
among  the  pupils.  William  Taylor  of  Norwich  and 
Dr.  Sayers  of  that  city  have  already  been  mentioned 
as  bright  and  interesting  boys,  who  made  brilliant 
scholars.  Lord  Denman  and  Sir  William  Gell  also 
should  be  included  in  this  list,  which  names  a  few  only 
of  the  boys  who  profited  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Barbauld's 
excellent  care  and  instruction.  In  the  school  vacations 
at  Midsummer  and  Christmas,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Barbauld 
enjoyed  many  pleasant  journeys,  and  visits  to  friends 
in  various  parts  of  England  and  Scotland.  The  sum- 
mer vacation  was  usually  passed  in  travelling  in  the 
country  and  visiting  friends  there,  the  winter  holidays 
in  lodgings  in  London.  From  her  letters  to  her  brother 
we  learn  that  they  were  welcome  guests  and  honored, 


114  LIFR  OF   MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  VI. 

intimate  friends  in  many  elegant  and  charming  homes. 
In  Mrs.  Montague's  fine  new  mansion,  Montague  House, 
they  saw  all  of  London  society  that  was  great  in  lit- 
erature and  science,  —  men  and  women  whose  names  are 
still  celebrated  for  their  genius,  culture,  and  brilliancy ; 
and  that  was  one  only  of  the  many  houses  where  they 
were  frequent  visitors.  Joseph  Johnson,  of  St.  Paul's 
Churchyard,  her  publisher,  was  a  good  friend  of  Mrs. 
Barbauld ;  and  she  tells  her  brother  she  is  almost  afraid 
to  name  the  hour  at  which  some  of  his  agreeable  and 
social  parties  end.  There  she  met  many  literary  people 
in  a  more  simple  style,  and  the  conversation  was  less 
formal,  and  people  mixed  more  easily  in  his  rooms,  than 
in  the  more  magnificent  residences  of  her  West  End  fash- 
ionable friends.  This  good  but  rather  unfortunate  man 
was  a  kind-hearted  though  somewhat  dilatory  publisher. 
He  had  much  taste  and  discrimination,  and  published 
Cowper's  poems,  which  had  been  rather  contemptuously 
rejected  by  some  other  booksellers,  ignorant  of  their 
beauty  and  merits.  Many  other  valuable  and  impor- 
tant books  of  the  time  issued  from  his  press.  He  was 
Miss  Edgeworth's  publisher  also,  and  when  imprisoned 
in  the  King's  Bench  Prison,  in  1799,  for  a  publication 
considered  treasonable,  was  visited  by  Mr.  and  Miss 
Edgeworth,  who  were  then  on  a  visit  to  London ;  and 
many  of  the*authors  in  whose  works  he  had  interested 
himself  made  it  a  point,  as  the  Edgeworths  did,  to  pay 


1784.]  LETTER  FROM   LONDON.  115 

him  attention  in  his  misfortune.  Afterwards  he  was 
much  connected  and  rather  intimate  with  Godwin, 
Holcroft,  and  some  others  of  that  revolutionary  and 
radical  set,  and  it  was  rather  a  disadvantage  and  injury 
to  be  associated  with  him  either  in  a  social  or  a  business 
way. 

London,  January  2,  1784. 
"Well,  my  dear  brother,  here  we  are  in  this  busy  town, 
nothing  in  which  (the  sight  of  friends  excepted)  has  given  us 
so  much  pleasure  as  the  balloon  which  is  now  exhibiting  in 
the  Pantheon.  It  is  sixteen  feet  one  way,  and  seventeen 
another ;  and  when  full  (which  it  is  not  at  present)  will 
carry  eighty-six  pounds.  When  set  loose  from  the  weight 
which  keeps  it  to  the  ground,  it  mounts  to  the  top  of  that 
magnificent  dome  with  such  an  easy  motion  as  put  me  in 
mind  of  Milton's  line,  "rose  like  an  exhalation."  We  hope 
to  see  it  rise  in  the  open  air  before  we  leave  town.     Xext  to 

the  balloon,  Miss  B *  is  the  object  of  public  curiosity  ;  I 

had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  her  yesterday.  She  is  a  very 
unaffected,  modest,  sweet,  and  pleasing  young  lady  u  but  you, 
now  I  think  of  it,  are  a  Goth,  and  have  not  read  "  Cecilia," 
Read,  read  it,  for  shame  !  I  begin  to  be  giddy  with  the 
whirl  of  London,  and  to  feel  my  spirits  flag.  There  are  so 
many  drawbacks,  from  hair-dressers,  bad  weather,  and  fatigue, 
that  it  requires  strong  health  greatly  to  enjoy  being  abroad. 
The  enthusiasm  for  Mrs.  Siddons  seems  something  abated 
this  winter.     As  the  last  season  was  spent  in  unbounded 

*  Fanny  Burney. 


116  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  VI. 

admiration,  this,  I  suppose,  will  be  employed  in  canvassing 
her  faults,  and  the  third  settle  her  in  her  proper  degree  of 
reputation. 

In  this  letter  Mrs.  Barbauld  describes  their  Christ- 
mas visit  to  London,  and  how  much  she  liked  Miss 
Burney,  then  the  object  of  general  interest  as  the 
author  of  "  Evelina  "  and  "  Cecilia,"  books  which  formed 
a  new  era  in  light  literature  as  evidences  of  the  study 
of  human  nature  and  descriptions  of  people ;  and  they 
amused,  delighted,  and  surprised  the  public,  who  found 
themselves  wildly  excited  over  the  adventures  and 
misfortunes  of  the  heroine,  the  vulgarities  and  oddities 
of  the  other  characters.  The  "  Braughtons  "  were  the 
theme  of  universal  discussion,  and  the  author  was  the 
admiration  of  a  circle  which  boasted  such  members  as 
Dr.  Johnson,  Burke,  Sir  Joshua  Beynolds,  Mrs.  Mon- 
tague, Sheridan,  and  others  celebrated  for  their  talents, 
brilliancy,  and  wit.  Her  diary,  written  for  the  perusal 
of  her  family,  gives  the  reader  of  the  present  day  a  most 
thorough  insight  into  the  character  and  description  of 
the  looks,  manners,  and  peculiarities  of  the  most  noted 
men  and  women  of  her  time.  No  one  in  Great  Britain 
of  as  keen  observation  and  ready  powers  of  description, 
perhaps,  had  more  advantages  and  opportunities  of 
acquaintance  with  great  and  little  people  than  "little 
Fanny  Burney,"  later  known  as  Madame  D'Arblay  after 


1784.]  LIFE   IN   LONDON.  117 

her  marriage  with  a  French  emigrtf,  an  officer  of 
distinction.  Mrs.  Barbanld  met  her  at  the  house  of 
a  mutual  friend,  Mr.  Barrows,  by  her  own  wish,  an 
appointment  being  made  by  Mrs.  Chapone,  who  in- 
troduced her  there  to  Miss  Burney;  and  long  after 
Mrs.  Barbauld  renewed  the  acquaintance  in  a  man- 
ner which  Madame  D'Arblay  mentions  in  her  diary 
as  most  kind  and  pleasant.  In  the  letter  which  fol- 
lows, written  after  her  return  to  Palgrave,  Mrs.  Bar- 
bauld tells  Dr.  Aikin  of  the  continual  visiting  they 
had  done  while  in  London,  and  of  the  pleasure  they 
found  in  it;  of  all  the  novelties  of  the  day,  —  the 
automaton,  the  newly  arrived  American  minister,  Mr. 
Adams,  and  the  members  of  the  American  Congress, 
then  just  landed  in  England  at  the  conclusion  of  the 
long  war  between  Great  Britain  and  her  colonies. 

Palgrave,  January  21,  1784. 
My  dear  Brother,  —  We  arrived  at  Palgrave  yesterday. 
I  much  wished  to  have  written  again  from  London ;  but  I 
could  not  get  further  than  half  a  letter,  which  was  therefore 
committed  to  the  flames.  Bating  the  circumstance  of  being 
greatly  hurried,  we  spent  our  time  very  pleasantly  in  London, 
and  had  a  great  deal  of  most  agreeable  society.  Our  even- 
ings, particularly  at  Johnson's,  were  so  truly  social  and 
lively  that  we  protracted  them  sometimes  till  —  But  I  am 
not  telling  tales,  Ask at  what  time  we  used  to  sep- 
arate.    Our  time,  indeed,  in  London  was  chiefly  spent  in 


113  LIFE   OF  MES.   BAEBAULD.  [Chap.  VI. 

seeing  people ;  for,  as  to  seeing  sights,  constant  visiting  and 
the  very  bad  weather  left  us  little  opportunity  for  anything 
of  that  kind.  There  is  a  curious  automaton  which  plays  at 
chess.  His  countenance,  they  say,  is  very  grave  and  full  of 
thought,  and  you  can  hardly  help  imagining  he  meditates 
upon  every  move.  He  is  wound  up,  however,  at  every  two 
or  three  moves.  The  same  man  has  made  another  figure, 
which  speaks  ;  but  as  his  native  tongue  is  French,  he  stays 
at  home  at  present  to  learn  English.  The  voice  is  like  that 
of  a  young  child. 

We  spent  two  very  agreeable  days  at  Mr.  's.     "We 

saw  there  many  Americans,  members  of  the  Congress,  and 
plenipos.  We  were  often  amused  with  the  different  sen- 
timents of  the  several  parties  in  which  we  passed  the  day. 
At  Mr.  Brand  Hollis's,  the  nation  was  ruined ;  notwithstand- 
ing which  we  ate  our  turkey  and  drank  our  wine  as  if 
nothing  had  happened.  In  the  evening  party  there  was 
nobody  to  be  pitied  but  the  poor  king ;  and  we  criticised 
none  but  Mrs.  Siddons.  It  is  impossible,  however,  not  to 
be  kept  awake  by  curiosity  at  learning  the  extraordinary 
manoeuvres  and  rapid  changes  that  have  happened  lately. 
Do  you  know  that  at  two  o'clock  on  the  day  the  Parliament 
met,  Mr.  Pitt  had  not  received  his  return  1  so  that  Mr.  Fox 
had  almost  begun  the  debates  before  Pitt  knew  he  was  even 
a  member  ! 

In  the  letter  which  follows,  Mrs.  Barbauld  describes 
the  mode  of  soliciting  votes  then  in  fashion,  with  nat- 


1781]  FEMALE   CANVASSERS.  119 

ural  indignation  and  disgust  at  the  vulgarity  and  freedom 
of  the  high-born  titled  ladies  who  disgraced  their  sex 
and  station  by  canvassing  in  such  a  manner.  The 
beautiful  Georgiana,  Duchess  of  Devonshire,  was  one 
of  the  ladies  notorious  in  this  election,  and  her  name 
easily  supplies  the  blank  left  m  the  letter,  as  she  was 
often  in  Covent  Garden  wearing  the  colors  of  Charles 
James  Fox,  her  relation ;  and  the  report  that  she  had 
won  the  vote  of  a  hesitating  butcher  with  a  kiss  was 
commemorated  in  gross  caricatures  and  libels. 

Palgrave,  May,  1784. 

Let  me  begin  with  telling  you,  what  you  have  some  reason 
to  complain  of  me  for  not  having  told  you  before,  that  we 

are  very  well.     Mr.  B has  begun  to  eat  his  dinners  ;  and 

we  smile  upon  the  year,  as  the  year  begins  to  smile  upon  us. 
We  propose  going  to  Birmingham  this  vacation,  and  we 
understand  Oxford  and  Daventry  are  in  the  way ;  so  that 
we  hope  a  great  deal  lies  before  us  to  please  the  eye  and 
touch  the  soul  of  friendship  :  but  busy  must  we  be  before 
we  have  earned  our  vacation. 

What  do  you  think  of  the  behavior  of  our  great  ladies  on 
the  present  election1?  I  thought  the  newspapers  had  ex- 
aggerated ;  but  Mr. says  he  himself  saw  the  two  Lady 

s  and  Miss  go  into   a  low  alehouse  to  canvass, 

where  they  stayed  half  an  hour ;  and  then,  with  the  mob  at 
their  heels  offering  them  a  thousand  indignities,  proceeded 
to  another.     These  he  mentioned  as  unmarried  ladies,  and 


120                          LIFE   OF   MRS.    BARBATJLD.                [Chap.  VI. 
therefore  less  privileged.     The  Duchess  of ,  Mrs. , 


and  many  others,  equally  expose  their  charms  for  the  good 
of  the  public. 

Have  you  got  Hoole's  "  Ariosto  "  1  We  are  reading  it ;  but 
think  the  translation,  except  in  a  few  passages,  wonderfully  flat 
and  prosaic  :  the  adventures  are  entertaining,  however. 


17S5.J  CONTINENTAL  JOUKNEY.  121 


CHAPTER    VII. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Barbauld  relinquish  their  School." — They  make  a 
Continental  Journey.  —  Letters  written  to  the  Family  and 
Friends  on  this  Journey.  —  Persons  whose  Acquaintance  they 
make.  —  They  meet  John  Howard.  —  Magnetism.  —  Manners  and 
Customs.  — Mode  of  Travelling. 

IN  the  year  1785,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Barbauld  found  that 
their  arduous  cares  and  engrossing  life  of  instruc- 
tion, though  occasionally  relieved  by  vacations  and 
pleasant  excursions,  were  too  exhausting,  and  that  an 
entire  change  of  scene  and  relief  from  continuous  duties 
was  an  absolute  necessity.  They  therefore  gave  up 
their  school  at  Palsrave,  and  Mr.  Barbauld  resigned  his 
pastoral  charge,  which  released  them  from  longer  resi- 
dence there,  and  they  made  arrangements  for  a  Con- 
tinental tour  which  was  prolonged  for  several  months, 
and  was  productive  of  much  benefit  and  enjoyment  to 
them.  After  leaving  Palgrave,  they  made  a  visit  to  Dr. 
Aikin  at  Yarmouth,  and  then  went  to  Dover,  to  sail  for 
France.  They  left  England  the  17th  of  September, 
1785,  and  were  absent  until  the  following  June,  during 


122  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  VII. 

which  interval  they  travelled  in  France   and   passed 
some  time  in  Switzerland. 

To  Mrs.  J.  Taylor. 

Yarmouth,  September  1,  1785. 

Dear  Madam,  —  Though  I  have  had  the  pleasure  (it  was 
a  very  real  one)  of  a  glimpse  of  Mr.  Taylor,  yet  I  cannot 
prevail  on  myself  to  intrust  either  him  or  Mr.  Barhauld  with 
those  affectionate  wishes  and  grateful  acknowledgments  of 
your  friendship  which,  before  I  leave  England,  I  wish  to 
convey  to  you  with  my  own  hand.  Mr.  Barbauld  will  tell 
you  our  route.  Now  it  comes  to  the  point,  I  cannot  help 
feeling  it  a  solemn  thing  to  leave  England,  and  all  our  dear 
connections  in  it,  for  so  many  months.  Often  will  they  be 
in  our  minds ;  and  when  we  recollect  those  who  hold  the 
highest  places  in  our  esteem  and  affection,  Mrs.  Taylor  will 
always  be  presented  to  our  thoughts.  Allow  me,  dear 
madam,  again  to  thank  you  for  your  kindness  to  us  at 
Norwich,  and  the  pleasure  we  enjoyed  in  that  short  but 
delightful  intercourse  with  you  and  your  family.  On  that 
family  may  health  and  every  blessing  ever  rest ! 

By  the  time  we  return,  I  think  I  shall  have  had  a  suffi- 
cient draught  of  idleness,  and  be  very  ready  to  engage  again 
in  some  active  pursuit ;  but  at  present,  Avaunt  care  !  and 
Vive  la  bagatelle  !  for  we  are  bound  for  France. 

The  following  letter,  the  first  written  on  her  journey, 
gives  her  brother  their  experiences  as  far  as  Dover, 
where  they  were  then  waiting  for  the  packet  to  sail. 


1785.]  CONTINENTAL  JOURNEY.  123 

Dover,  September  17,  1785,  8  o'clock. 
Fair  stood  the  wind  for  France,  — 
When  we  our  sails  advance  ; 
Nor  now  to  trust  our  chance 
Longer  would  tarry. 

It  is  not  very  fair  either,  for  there  is  scarcely  wind 
enough ;  but  what  there  is,  is  in  our  favor.  AVe  are  just 
got  here,  and  a  packet  sails  to-night,  so  I  suppose  we  shall 
go  in  a  few  hours  ;  for  the  night  is  the  most  beautiful,  the 
most  brilliant,  that  ever  rivalled  day.  The  moon,  which  is 
nearly  full,  illuminates  the  majestic  chalky  cliffs,  the  stately 
castle,  and  the  element  we  are  going  to  trust  ourselves  to. 
The  views  about  Dover  are  very  bold  and  very  beautiful. 
But  let  me  give  a  regular  account  of  ourselves.  From 
London  we  had  the  good  fortune  to  take  part  of  a  chaise  to 
Dover  with  Dr.  Osborn.  He  is  a  most  entertaining,  agreeable 
companion ;  and  we  never  had  a  more  agreeable  journey, 
especially  to-day,  for  yesterday  it  was  rainy,  and  we  did  not 
get  into  Eochester  till  nine  at  night ;  consequently  lost  in  a 
great  measure  the  windings  of  the  silver  Medway.  But  to- 
day was  uniformly  fine ;  and  greatly  delighted  we  were  with 
the  view  of  Chatham,  Stroud,  and  Eochester,  from  a  hill 
just  above  the  town,  which  we  walked  up.  The  Medway 
makes  a  fine  bend  here.  The  hop-pickers  were  at  work  as 
we  went  along,  but  not  with'  their  usual  alacrity ;  for  the 
late  storm  has  blasted  the  hops  to  such  a  degree  that  twenty 
thousand  pounds'  worth  of  damage,  they  say,  is  done.  The 
country  is  beautifully  variegated  all  the  way,  and  has  many 
fine  seats ;  among  which  Sir  Horace  Alarm's  was  pointed  out. 


124  LIFE   OF  MPtS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  VII. 

Erom  this  rich,  enclosed  country  you  come  to  the  open 
downs,  more  grand  and  striking.  The  first  view  of  Dover 
Castle  is  noble ;  and  still  more  finished  that  of  the  town, 

which  we  saw  from  Dr.  0 's  house,  where  we  dined.     It 

has  the  castle  on  one  side,  hills  on  the  other,  a  valley  between 
(in  which  is  the  town),  and  the  sea  beyond.  I  think  we 
shall  hardly  see  more  beautiful  scenes  in  France.  We  here 
took  leave  of  our  last  English  friends.  I  forgot  to  say  we 
took  a  hasty  peep  at  the  venerable  cathedral  of  Canterbury, 
to  which  I  would  at  any  time  willingly  go  a  pilgrimage, 
though  not  barefoot. 

Dr.  Aikin,  after  his  sister's  departure,  in  writing  her 
says :  "  How  I  long  to  be  with  you  to  quaff  the  pendent 
vintage  as  it  grows;  to  see  the  gay  people  in  their 
gayest  mood,  and  lead  the  dance  with  a  sunburnt 
Champenoise  on  the  green  turf!  Here,  different  em- 
ploy !  We  are  fitting  out  fishing-boats,  preparing  nets 
and  cordage,  launching  to  sea,  and  out  for  the  mighty 
shoals  of  herrings  in  their  annual  migration.  Already 
some  are  brought  in,  and  carts  loaded  with  them  are 
driving  by.  Here  is  industry,  and  here  are  the  sources 
of  wealth;  but  where  are  pleasure  and  elegance  and 
vivacity  ?  If  employments  must  give  a  tincture  and 
flavor  to  those  occupied  in  them,  surely  one  would 
prefer  the  perfume  of  the  grape  to  the  stench  of  a 
herring."  His  biographer  speaks  of  the  inspiring  in- 
fluence of  his  sister's  letters,  describing  alternately  the 


1785.]  CONTINENTAL  JOURNEY.  123 

gay  and  sublime  scenes,  the  new  and  varied  experiences 
of  travel,  which  unfolded  themselves  before  her  aston- 
ished and  admiring  eyes,  —  and  says  that  they  animated 
his  fancy  and  roused  his  vivid  imagination  to  the 
composition  of  a  poetical  epistle,  part  of  which  I  quote. 
In  this  he  very  charmingly  follows  in  imagination  the 
travels  of  his  sister  through  the  novel  and  beautiful 
scenery  which  she  beholds ;  his  fancy,  after  a  rapid 
chase,  joins  her  in  her  journey  through  the  South  of 
France,  and  he  begins  his  imaginary  travels  in  Bur- 
gundy. 

"  O'er  land,  o'er  sea,  freed  fancy  speeds  her  flight, 
"Waves  the  light  wing,  and  towers  her  airy  flight ; 
And  now  the  chalky  cliffs  behind  her  fly, 
And  Gallia's  realms  in  brilliant  prospect  lie." 

He  desires  the  lovely  country  and  climate  to  exert 
their  soothing  influence  on  the  tired  and  toil-worn 
travellers  :  — 

"  Fair  land  !  by  nature  decked,  and  graced  by  art, 
Alike  to  cheer  the  eye  and  glad  the  heart, 
Pour  thy  soft  influence  through  Lsetitia's  breast, 
And  lull  each  swelling  wave  of  care  to  rest ; 
Heal  with  sweet  balm  the  wounds  of  pain  and  toil, 
Bid  anxious,  busy  years  restore  their  spoil ; 
The  spirit  light,  the  vigorous  soul  infuse, 
And,  to  requite  thy  gifts,  bring  back  the  Muse." 

Mrs.   Barbauld's   own    letters   to   her    brother   and 


126  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  VII. 

friends  fully  describe  her  first  fresh  impressions  of  the 
lovely  scenes  and  odd  manners  and  customs  of  the 
people  whose  countries  she  saw  on  her  journey.  She 
speaks  of  the  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  travel 
after  they  had  been  for  some  time  on  their  journey,  and 
contrasts  home  favorably  with  all  the  beauties  of  cli- 
mate and  the  novelties  which  continually  met  their 
eyes.  They  went  as  far  south  as  Marseilles,  and  thence 
pursued  their  way  to  Geneva ;  where  Mr.  'Barbauld 
found  he  had  some  relations,  on  his  mother's  side, 
whose  acquaintance  he  made.  Mrs.  Barbauld  men- 
tions the  society  in  that  city  as  being  extremely  cul- 
tivated and  agreeable.  She  described  a  Sunday  in 
Geneva  to  her  friend  Mrs.  Kenrick,  and  was  evidently 
much  struck  by  the  peculiar  mode  of  conducting  the 
Protestant  services.  Those  who  have  had  the  oppor- 
tunity of  attending  a  Swiss  Protestant  service  can  fancy 
her  sensations  at  seeing  the  minister  put  on  his  hat 
after  naming  the  text  of  his  sermon,  and  the  congrega- 
tion follow  this  custom  if  they  choose.  This  practice 
is  still  observed,  and  the  modern  traveller  may  see  it 
and  be  as  much  amazed  as  she  was  at  first  noticing  it. 
She  tells  Mrs.  Kenrick  that  there  are  Some  things 
learned  by  travel,  for  she  has  discovered  that  she  can 
eat  many  kinds  of  food  distasteful  to  her  at  home 
"without  making  faces  much,"  which  strikes  one  as 
hardly  a  necessary  lesson  at  her  age. 


1785.]  CONTINENTAL  JOURNEY.  127 

BB8AN30H,  October  9,  1785. 

Dear  Brother,  —  I  wrote  letters  from  Calais  and  from 
Troyes,  the  contents  of  which  have,  I  hope,  been  communi- 
cated to  you.  From  Troyes  we  proceeded  to  Dijon  by  a 
road  so  delightful  that  I  strongly  wished  my  sister  and  you 
could  have  been  with  me,  —  a  wish  which  I  cannot  help 
forming,  though  a  vain  one,  whenever  any  object  particularly 
pleasant  presents  itself.  During  the  greatest  part  of  this 
road  we  had  the  full  view  of  the  Seine,  which  we  traced 
upwards  to  within  half  a  league  of  its  source,  and  saw  it 
grow  less  and  less,  untwisting,  as  it  were,  to  a  single  thread. 
The  valley  in  which  it  ran  was  narrow,  of  a  beautiful  ver- 
dure, and  bounded  by  hills  of  the  most  gentle  ascent  covered 
with  trees  or  herbage  :  cattle  of  all  sorts,  among  which  were 
several  flocks  of  goats,  were  feeding  in  sight.  The  road 
often  ran  upon  the  ascent  \  and  we  saw  the  river,  sometimes 
bordered  with  trees  and  sometimes  fringed  with  grass  or  rushes, 
winding  beneath  in  the  most  sportive  meanders,  —  for  we  saw 
and  lost  it  nine  times  from  one  spot.  The  scene  was  in  general 
solitary ;  but,  if  we  came  to  a  spot  particularly  pleasant,  it 
was  sure  to  be  marked  by  a  convent,  the  neatness  of  which 
(generally  white)  added  to  the  beauty  of  the  scene.  After 
we  had  lost  the  Seine,  we  came  to  the  Yal  de  Suson,  a  still 
more  romantic  place,  and  very  like  Middleton  Dale,  only 
that  the  rocks  were  richly  covered  with  trees.  Through  the 
first  part  of  this  valley  runs  the  river  Suson  ;  the  rest  is  still 
narrower,  and  between  high  rocks. 

At  Dijon  we  delivered  our  first  letter  of  recommendation, 


128  LIFE   OF  MKS.    BARBAULD.  [Chap.  VII. 

which  introduced  us  to  M.  De  Morveau,  a  man  of  great 
merit,  who  was  avocat  general,  but  has  quitted  his  profession 
for  the  sake  of  applying  himself  to  philosophical  studies, 
and  chiefly  chemical.  He  writes  all  the  chemical  articles  in 
the  "  Nouvelle  Encyclopedie."  He  esteems  Dr.  Priestley,  Dr. 
Black,  and  Mr.  Kirnan,  to  be  the  chief  men  in  England  in 
the  philosophical  way.  M.  De  Morveau  was  one  of  the  first 
who  ascended  in  a  balloon.  He  showed  us  their  Academy, 
which  is  one  of  the  first  provincial  ones.  The  Palais  des 
Etats,  in  Dijon,  is  the  finest  building  in  it;  the' front  of  it 
forms  one  side  of  a  very  handsome  square,  and  the  wings 
extend  much  beyond  it.  It  is  adorned  with  statues  and 
paintings  by  the  pupils  of  the  drawing-school.  From  the 
tower,  on  which  is  an  observatory  belonging  to  this  build- 
ing, is  a  charming  view  of  the  country  :  the  hills  of  Bur- 
gundy covered  with  vines ;  the  rivers  of  Ouche  and  Suson, 
which  encircle  the  town ;  and  the  town  itself,  which  is 
large,  though  not  very  populous.  On  our  way  from  Dijon 
to  Dole  we  saw  more  of  the  vintage  than  we  had  hitherto 
done,  —  and  a  gay  scene  it  is ;  though  I  must  confess  my 
disappointment  at  the  first  sight  of  the  vines,  which  are 
very  low,  and  nothing  like  so  beautiful  as  our  apple-trees. 
They  say  they  have  more  wine  this  year  than  they  can 
possibly  find  vessels  to  put  it  in ;  and  yet  the  road  was 
covered  with  teams  of  casks,  empty  or  full,  according  as  they 
were  going  out  or  returning,  and  drawn  by  oxen  whose 
strong  necks  seemed  to  be  bowed  unwillingly  under  the 
voke.     Men,  women,  and  children,  were  abroad  :  some  cut- 


1785.]  CONTINENTAL  JOURNEY.  129 

ting  with  a  short  sickle  the  bunches  of  grapes  ;  some  break- 
ing them  with  a  wooden  instrument ;  some  carrying  them  on 
their  backs  from  the  gatherers  to  those  who  pressed  the 
juice ;  and,  as  in  our  harvest,  the  gleaners  followed.  From 
Dole  we  should  have  gone  directly  to  Besancon,  but  were 
induced  to  strike  out  of  the  road  to  visit  the  grottes 
stalactites  of  Auxcelles ;  to  see  which  we  crossed  in  a  ferry 
the  river  Doux,  a  fine  stream  with  banks  beautifully  wooded, 
and  got  into  a  place  most  wild  and  solitary,  through  such 
terrible  bad  roads  that  what  we  thought  would  have  been 
the  affair  of  a  few  hours  detained  us  there  the  whole  night  : 
the  grotto,  however,  repaid  our  trouble.  Had  you  been 
there,  you  would  have  seen  it  with  a  more  philosophical  eye, 
and  have  told  us  how  the  continual  dropping  of  water 
through  those  rocks  forms  those  beautiful  petrifications, 
which  when  polished,  as  they  sometimes  are,  have  the 
lustre  and  transparency  of  crystal.  But  it  required  only 
eyes  to  be  struck  with  the  view  of  a  vast  subterranean  shaft 
running  through  a  whole  rock,  which  had  the  appearance  of 
a  most  magnificent  Gothic  church  ;  tombs,  images,  drapery, 
pillars,  shrines,  all  formed  without  much  aid  from  fancy,  by 
nature  working  alone  for  ages  in  these  long  and  lofty  cav- 
erns. We  walked  in  it,  I  believe,  about  two  furlongs,  and 
it  might  be  another  to  the  end.  Besangon  is  by  far  the  best 
town  we  have  seen  ;  the  streets  are  long  and  regular,  the 
hotels  of  the  chief  inhabitants  palaces  for  princes,  and  the 
public  buildings  noble.  But  you  would  have  been  most 
struck  with  the  hospital,  managed  in  all  the  internal  parts 
6*  I 


130  LIFE   OF   MRS.    BAEBAULD.  [Chap.  VII. 

by  those  good  nuns,  Les  Hospitaller 'es,  with  such  perfect 
neatness  that,  in  a  long  chamber  containing  thirty-five  beds, 
most  of  them  full,  there  was  not  any  closeness  or  smell  to 
be  perceived.  The  beds  were  of  white  cotton,  and  by  each 
bed  a  table  and  chair.  Some  of  the  nuns  were  attending 
here ;  others  in  the  dispensary  making  up  medicines ;  others 
in  the  kitchen  making  broths,  etc.  :  and  all  this  they  do 
without  salary,  and  many  of  them  are  of  good  families. 

Noyon,  October  13.  —  I  could  not  finish  my  letter  time 
enough  to  send  it  from  Besangon,  which  gives  me  an  oppor- 
tunity to  tell  you  in  brief  that  we  are  got  to  within  a  stage 
of  Geneva,  and  are  now  sitting  in  a  room  which  overlooks 
the  delightful  lake.  "We  were  too  late  last  night  for  Geneva, 
as  they  shut  the  gates  at  half  after  six,  and  open  them  for 
no  one.  "We  hope  to  get  there  this  morning,  and  to  receive 
letters  from  you,  which  my  heart  longs  for.  I  have  only  to 
tell  you  further  that  I  have  seen  the  Alps,  —  a  sight  so 
majestic,  so  totally  different  from  anything  I  had  seen 
before,  that  I  am  ready  to  sing  Nunc  dimittis. 

Tell  me  in  your  next  how  long  you  have  been  sitting  by 
a  coal  fire.  We  have  had  no  fire  but  twice  or  three  times,  a 
little  in  the  evening,  since  we  set  out ;  and  in  the  middle  of 
the  day  the  heat  has  been  very  strong.  I  suppose,  however, 
we  shall  find  it  colder  at  Geneva. 

Louis  Bernard  Guyton  de  Morveau,  of  whom  Mrs. 
Barbauld  speaks,  was  a  learned  French  chemist ;  and,  in 
addition  to  the  office  she  mentions,  he  was  republican 


1785.]  CONTINENTAL   JOURNEY.  131 

deputy  to  the  Legislative  Assembly  and  the  Conven- 
tion, member  of  the  Committee  of  Public  Safety  and 
Council  of  Five  Hundred,  and  in  the  time  of  Napo- 
leon's government,  one  of  the  Administrators-General 
of  the  Mint,  and  director  of  the  Polytechnic  School. 
He  was  the  discoverer  of  the  means  of  destroying 
infection  by  acid  vapors,  and  the  author  of  many 
chemical   treatises. 

In  the  following  letter  to  Dr.  Aikin,  Mrs.  Barbauld 
acknowledges  the  receipt  of  his  verses,  and  compli- 
ments his  poetical  epistle  by  telling  him  that  it  is 
not  necessary  that  he  should  travel  to  write  poetry 
well.  Dr.  Aikin  was  fond  of  poetry,  and  wrote 
several  very  pretty  and  graceful  pieces.  He  published 
a  small  volume  of  his  poems. 

....  And  so  much  in  French;  which,  though  it  begins 
to  be  easier  to  nie,  is  still  to  me  either  in  writing  or  speaking 
like  using  the  left  hand  ;  and  I  now  want  the  language  the 
most  familiar  to  me,  the  most  expressive,  that  with  less 
injustice  to  my  feelings  I  may  thank  you  for  your  charming 
letter.  It  is  not  necessary  for  you  to  travel  in  order  to  write 
good  verses  ;  and  indeed,  to  say  truth,  in  the  actual  journey 
many  things  occur  not  altogether  so  consonant  with  the  fine 
ideas  one  would  wish  to  keep  upon  one's  mind.  The  dirt 
and  bustle  of  inns,  and  the  various  circumstances,  odd  or 
disgusting,  of  a  French  diligence,  are  not  made  to  shine  in 
poetry.     I  shall,  however,  keep  your  exhortation  in  mind ; 


132  LIFE   OF   MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  VII. 

and  when,  to  complete  the  inspiration,  I  have  drunk  of  the 
fountain  of  Vaucluse,  which  we  are  going  to  do,  if  the  Muse 
is  not  favorable,  you  may  fairly  conclude  I  no  longer  possess 
her  good  graces.  From  Lyons  we  took  the  diligence  d'eau 
down  the  Rhone  to  this  place,  a  voyage  which  in  summer, 
and  in  a  vehicle  more  neat  and  convenient,  would  have  been 
delightful.  But  we  had  incessant  rain  for  two  of  the  days  ; 
and  the  third,  though  bright,  was  very  cold,  with  a  great 
deal  of  wind ;  so  that  we  did  not  reach  Avignon  till  the 
morning  of  the  fourth  day.  The  Rhone  is  rapid  all  the  way; 
but  at  Pont  St.  Esprit  particularly  so,  insomuch  that  many 
passengers  get  out  there  :  we  did  not.  The  Rhone  has  high 
banks  all  the  way,  or  rather  is  enclosed  between  hills,  cov- 
ered in  many  places  with  vines  and  pasturage,  in  others 
pretty  barren.  Near  St.  Esprit  begins  the  olive  country. 
This  was  the  first  time  we  had  been  in  a  public  voiture ;  it 
is  a  very  reputable  one,  and  yet  you  cannot  conceive  the 
shabbiness  and  mal  propriete  of  the  boat. 

We  are  now  in  a  land  of  vermicelli,  soup,  and  macaroni, 
—  a  land  of  onions  and  garlic,  —  a  land  flowing  with  oil  and 
wine.  Avignon  is  delightfully  situated ;  the  Rhone  forms 
two  branches  here,  and  encloses  a  large  fertile  island.  The 
Durance  (another  fine  river,  at  present  so  overflowed  that  it 
is  not  passable)  joins  the  Rhone  some  way  below  the  town. 
The  churches  here  are  numerous,  highly  adorned,  and  have 
several  good  paintings.  The  streets  are  darkened  with  cowls 
and  filled  with  beggars,  drawn  here,  they  say,  by  the  stran- 
gers ;  for  the  people  are  no  ways  oppressed  by  the  govern- 


1785.]  CONTINENTAL  JOURNEY.  133 

ment,  the  revenue  to  the  Pope  hardly  paying  the  expenses. 
We  are  not  yet,  however,  in  the  climate  of  perpetual  spring ; 
like  an  enchanted  island,  it  seems  to  fly  from  us.  All  along 
the  course  of  the  Eh  one  there  are  cold  winds.  Lyons  is 
disagreeable  in  winter,  both  with  fogs  and  cold.  At  Geneva 
everybody  had  fires  and  winter  dresses  before  we  left  it ; 
and  Avignon,  though  much  warmer,  is  not  enough  so  to 
invite  us  much  abroad,  or  permit  us  to  dispense  with  fires. 
To-morrow  we  set  off  for  Orange,  and  from  thence  shall  go 
to  Lisle,  perhaps  to  Marseilles ;  but  where  we  shall  spend 
these  next  two  months  we  have  not  yet  determined.  May 
you  and  my  dear  sister  spend  them  with  health  and  pleasure 
in  that  dear  society  where  our  hearts  perpetually  carry  us,  and 
to  which  we  hope  to  return  with  increased  affection ! 

I  forgot  to  tell  you  that  all  the  people  speak  patois  to 
one  another,  though  they  speak  French  too  j  and  when  we 
landed,  the  people  who  came  about  us  to  carry  our  things 
had  absolutely  the  air  of  demoniacs,  with  their  violent 
gestures  and  eager  looks,  and  their  coarsest  exclamations  at 
every  second  word. 

To  Dr.  Aikin. 

Marseilles,  December,  1785. 
Health  to  you  all  —  poor  mortals  as  you  are,  crowding 
round  your  coal  fires,  shivering  in  your  nicely  closed  apart- 
ments, and  listening  with  shivering  hearts  to  the  wind  and 
snow  which  beats  dark  December  !  The  months  here  have 
indeed  the  same  names,  but  far  different  are  their  aspects  ; 
for  here  I  am  sitting  without  a  fire,  the  windows  open,  and 


134  LIFE   OF   MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  VII. 

breathing  an  air  as  perfectly  soft  and  balmy  as  in  our  warm- 
est days  of  May ;  yet  the  sun  does  not  shine.  On  the  day 
we  arrived  here,  the  5th  of  December,  it  did ;  and  with 
as  much  splendor  and  warmth,  and  the  sky  was  as  clear  and 
of  as  bright  a  blue,  as  in  our  finest  summer  days.  The 
fields  are  full  of  lavender,  thyme,  mint,  rosemary,  etc. ;  the 
young  corn  is  above  half  a  foot  high  :  they  have  not  much, 
indeed,  in  this  neighborhood,  but  from  Orange  to  Lisle  we 
saw  a  good  deal.  The  trees  which  are  not  evergreens  have 
mostly  lost  their  leaves ;  but  one  sees  everywhere  the  pale 
verdure  of  the  olives  mixed  with  here  and  there  a  grove,  or 
perhaps  a  single  tree,  of  cypress,  shooting  up  its  graceful 
spire  of  a  deeper  and  more  lively  green  far  above  the  heads 
of  its  humbler  but  more  profitable  neighbors.  The  mar- 
kets abound  with  fresh  and  dried  grapes,  pomegranates, 
oranges  with  the  green  leaves,  apples,  pears,  dried  figs,  and 
almonds.  They  reap  the  corn  here  the  latter  end  of  May  or 
the  beginning  of*  June.  The  gathering  of  the  olives  is  not 
yet  finished  •  it  yields  to  this  country  its  richest  harvest. 
There  are  likewise  a  vast  number  of  mulberry-trees,  and  the 
road  in  many  places  is  bordered  with  them ;  but  they  are 
perfectly  naked  at  present.  Marseilles  is,  however,  not 
without  bad  weather.  The  vent  de  bise,  they  say,  is  penetrat- 
ing; and  for  this  last  fortnight  they  have  had  prodigious 
rains,  with  the  interruption  of  only  a  few  days;  so  that  the 
streets  are  very  dirty  and  the  roads  broken  up.  But  they 
say  this  is  very  extraordinary,  and  that  if  they  pass  two 
days  without  seeing  a  bright  sun  they  think  Nature  is  deal- 
ing very  hardly  with  them.     I  will  not,  however,  boast  too 


1785.] 


CONTINENTAL  JOURNEY. 


135 


much  over  you  from  these  advantages;  for  I  am  ready  to 
confess  the  account  may  be  balanced  by  many  inconven- 
iences, little  and  great,  which  attend  this  favored  country. 
And  thus  I  state  my  account :  — 


Advantages  of  Travelling. 
A  July  sun  and  a  southern  breeze. 

Figs,  almonds,  etc.,  etc. 

Sweet  scents  in  the  fields. 
Grapes  and  raisins. 
Coffee  as  cheap  as  milk. 
Wine  a  demi-sous  the  bottle. 

Provencal  songs  and  laughter. 

Soup,  salad,  and  oil. 

Arcs  of  triumph,    fine  churches, 

stately  palaces. 
A  pleasant  and  varied  country. 


Per  Contra. 
Flies,    fleas,    and    all    Pharaoh's 

plague  of  vermin. 
No  tea,  and  the  very  name  of  a 

teakettle  unknown. 
Bad  scents  within  doors. 
No  plum-pudding. 
Milk  as  dear  as  coffee. 
Bread  three   sous  the   halfpenny 

roll. 
Provencal  roughness  and  scolding. 
No  beef,  no  butter. 
Dirty  inns,  heavy  roads,  uneasy 

carnages. 
But  many,   many  a  league  from 

those  we  love. 


From  Avignon  (whence  I  wrote  to  you  last)  we  went  to 
Orange,  where  we  were  gratified  with  the  sight  of  an  arc  of 
triumph  entire,  of  rich  architecture  ;  and,  though  the  delicacy 
of  the  sculpture  is  much  defaced  by  time,  it  is  easy  to  see 
what  it  must  have  been  when  fresh.  There  is  likewise  a 
noble  ruin  of  an  amphitheatre  built  against  a  rock,  of  winch 
you  may  trace  the  whole  extent,  though  the  area  is  filled 
with  cottages.  These  were  the  first  remains  of  antiquity  of 
any  consequence  I  had  seen,  and  they  impressed  me  with  an 


136  LIFE  OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  VII. 

idea  of  Koman  grandeur.  Orange  is  a  poor  town,  but  the 
country  is  green  and  pleasant,  and  they  have  all  country- 
houses.  When  the  principality  came  under  French  govern- 
ment, it'  was  promised  that  they  should  have  no  fresh  taxes 
imposed  ;  but  peu  ct  peu,  say  they,  taxes  are  come.  They 
had  salt-springs  which  more  than  supplied  them  with  that 
article ;  they  are  forbidden  to  work  them.  They  grew 
tobacco  ;  now,  if  any  one  has  more  than  three  plants  in  his 
garden,  he  is  punished.  From  Orange  we  went  to  Lisle. 
In  the  way  we  stopped  at  Carpentras,  where  we  were  shown 
another  arc  of  triumph,  over  which  a  cardinal,  the  bishop  of 
Carpentras,  built  his  kitchen  ■  very  wisely  judging  that  noth- 
ing was  more  worthy  to  enter  through  an  arc  of  triumph 
than  a  noble  haunch  of  venison  or  an  exquisite  ragoo.  Lisle 
is  a  small  town,  very  pleasant  in  summer,  because  it  is  sur- 
rounded with  water ;  and  still  more  noted  for  its  neighbor- 
hood to  the  source  of  that  water,  the  celebrated  fountain  of 
Vaucluse. 

During  the  few  fair  days  we  have  had,  the  warmth  and 
power  of  the  sun  has  been  equal  to  our  summer  days ;  it  is 
truly  delightful  to  feel  such  a  sun  in  December ;  to  be  able 
to  saunter  by  the  shore  of  the  Mediterranean,  or  sit  on 
the  bank  and  enjoy  the  prospect  of  an  extensive  open  sea, 
smooth  and  calm  as  a  large  lake.  It  is  likewise  very  pleasant 
to  gain  an  hour  more  of  daylight  upon"  these  short  days. 
However,  though  the  middle  of  the  day  is  so  warm,  in  the 
mornings  and  evenings  a  fire  is  acceptable,  I  must  confess. 

The  Marseillians  value  themselves  upon  being  a  kind  of 


1785.]  CONTINENTAL   JOURNEY.  137 

republic,  and  their  port  is  free  :  the  lower  rank  are  bold  and 
rude  j  the  upper,  by  what  I  hear,  very  corrupt  in  their  man- 
ners. There  are  thirty  thousand  Protestants ;  their  place  of 
-worship  is  a  country-house,  which  they  have  hired  of  the 
commandant  himself.  They  meet  with  no  molestation,  and 
hope  from  the  temper  of  the  times  that  they  shall  erelong 
have  leave  to  build  a  church.  The  minister  is  an  agreeable 
and  literary  man,  and  is  very  obliging  towards  us  ;  his  wife 
has  been  six  years  in  England,  and  speaks  English  well. 
Her  family  fled  there  from  persecution ;  for  her  grandfather 
(who  was  a  minister)  was  seized,  as  he  came  out  from  a 
church  where  he  had  been  officiating,  by  the  soldiers.  His 
son,  who  had  fled  along  with  the  crowd  and  gained  an 
eminence  at  some  distance,  seeing  they  had  laid  hold  on  his 
father,  came  and  offered  himself  in  his  stead  ;  and  in  his 
stead  was  sent  to  the  galleys,  where  he  continued  seven 
years.  Ehonnete  Criminel  is  founded  on  this  fact.  Besides 
this  family,  we  have  hardly  any  acquaintance  here,  nor  are 
like  to  have.  \Ve  have,  however,  been  two  or  three  times 
with  the  Chanoines  de  St.  Victor,  who  are  all  of  the  best 
families  of  Erance,  as  they  must  prove  their  nobility  for  one 
hundred  and  fifty  years.  They  are  very  polite  and  hos- 
pitable, and  far  enough  from  bigots  ;  for  we  were  surprised  to 
find  how  freely  to  us  they  censured  auricular  confession,  the 
celibacy  of  the  clergy,  and  laughed  at  some  of  their  legen- 
dary miracles.  I  forgot  to  say  that  the  country  about  Mar- 
seilles is  covered  with  country-houses ;  they  reckon  ten  thou- 
sand.    Thev  were  first  be^un  to  be  built  on  account  of  the 


138  LIFE   OF   MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  VII. 

plague  :  everybody  has  one.  There  is  a  fine  picture  of 
the  terrible  plague  here  at  the  Consigne,  and  another  at  the 
Town  House.  They  are  very  exact  at  present  in  their  pre- 
cautions. I  am  sure  the  plague  cannot  be  occasioned  merely 
by  want  of  cleanliness,  for  then  Marseilles  could  not  es- 
cape. 

Remember  that  we  are  longing  for  letters,  and  that  news 
from  you  will  be  more  grateful  to  us  than  groves  of  oranges 
or  Provencal  skies. 

To  Mrs.  Kenrick. 

Geneva,  October  21,  1785. 
My  dear  Eliza  has  desired  me  to  write  to  her  during  our 
tour.  She  could  not  have  put  me  upon  an  employment 
more  agreeable  to  myself,  for  I  am  continually  wishing  those 
I  love  in  England  could  share  the  pleasure  we  receive  by  the 
new  scenes  and  objects  which  are  continually  passing  before 
our  eyes  ;  and,  though  I  can  give  you  but  a  very  inadequate 
idea  of  them,  it  will  be  without  any  drawback  from  fatigue, 
bad  inns,  dirt,  and  various  other  etc's.,  which  may  be  put  on 
the  opposite  side  when  the  travelling  account  is  balanced. 
We  landed  at  Calais,  September  18,  and  you  may  wonder 
that  we  have  as  yet  only  reached  Geneva ;  but  Mr.  B.,  from 
kind  regard  to  my  health,  and  indeed  the  convenience  of  us 
both,  thought  it  best  to  make  short  stages  ;  besides  which, 
we  have  stopped  wherever  there  were  churches  or  fine  things 
to  be  seen.  One  very  agreeable  ornament  of  the  towns 
abroad,  which  in  England  we  are  strangers  to,  is  their  foun- 


1785.]  GENEVA.  139 

tains,  the  more  pleasing  as  they  connect  public  utility  with 
a  degree  of  magnificence.  They  excel  us  likewise  in  public 
walks,  and  in  every  fortified  town  the  ramparts  alone  afford 
very  fine  ones. 

"We  find  ourselves  very  happy  in  Geneva ;  and,  if  the 
season  was  not  so  far  advanced,  should  like  to  spend  a 
month  or  two  here  :  indeed,  we  have  been  singularly  fortu- 
nate, for  Mr.  B.  has  found  out  a  family  of  relations  here,  of 
the  name  of  Eochemont,  very  amiable  and  respectable 
people  ;  and  the  society  here  in  general  seems  easy,  sprightly, 
and  literary.  English  is  much  understood,  and  very  toler- 
ably spoken  by  many.  The  town  is  still  divided  into 
parties,  and  one  side  will  tell  you  that  Geneva  is  no  longer 
what  it  was,  that  it  has  lost  its  liberty  and  everything  worth 
living  for ;  and  thus  far  is  true,  that  the  government  is 
become  entirely  aristocratical,  and  is  at  present  so  strict  that 
half  a  dozen  people  cannot  have  a  weekly  meeting  at  each 
other's  houses,  unless  they  choose  to  declare  they  keep  an 
open  tavern.  The  situation  of  Geneva,  as  you  well  know, 
is  delightful.  I  am  just  returned  from  an  excursion  to  the 
mountain  of  Saleve,  within  a  league  of  the  town;  from 
whence  on  one  side  you  have  a  view  of  Geneva,  with  its 
lake  of  the  purest  blue,  a  large  plain  between  the  chain  of 
Mount  Jura  and  that  of  the  Alps,  cultivated  like  a  parterre, 
and  full  of  villages,  country-houses,  and  farms,  watered  by 
the  Arve,  which  meanders  through  it  in  the  most  sportive 
manner,  making  several  islands,  and  beyond  Geneva  falls 
into  the  Rhone,     The  vintage  is  not  here  got  in,  so  that  the 


140  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  VII. 

vineyards  are  still  in  their  beauty.  On  the  other  side 
Saleve,  the  mountains  open  upon  you  in  all  their  grandeur. 
Mr.  B.  is  gone  to  the  Glaciers,  to  feast  his  eyes  with  a  nearer 
view  of  these  stupendous  mountains;  but  I  thought  the 
expedition  beyond  my  strength,  and  I  am  during  his  absence 
in  a  family  of  Genevois,  who  are  very  good  kind  of  people. 

Will  you  hear  how  they  pass  the  Sunday  at  Geneva  ? 
They  have  service  at  seven  in  the  morning,  at  nine,  and  at 
two ;  after  that  they  assemble  in  parties  for  conversation, 
cards,  and  dancing,  and  finish  the  day  at  the  theatre.  Did 
not  you  think  they  had  been  stricter  at  Geneva  than  to  have 
plays  on  the  Sunday,  especially  as  it  is  but  two  or  three 
years  since  they  were  allowed  at  all  1  The  service  at  their 
churches  is  seldom  much  more  than  an  hour,  and  I  believe 
few  people  go  more  than  once  a  day.  As  soon  as  the  text 
is  named,  the  minister  puts  on  his  hat,  in  which  he  is  fol- 
lowed by  all  the  congregation,  except  those  whose  hats  and 
heads  have  never  any -connection ;  for  you  well  know  that 
to  put  his  hat  upon  his  head  is  the  last  use  a  well-dressed 
Frenchman  would  think  of  putting  it  to.  At  proper  periods 
of  the  discourse,  the  minister  stops  short,  and  turns  his  back 
to  you,  in  order  to  blow  his  nose,  which  is  a  signal  for  all 
the  congregation  to  do  the  same  ;  and  a  glorious  concert  it 
is,  for  the  weather  is  already  severe,  and  people  have  got 
colds.  I  am  told,  too,  that  he  takes  this  time  to  refresh  his 
memory  by  peeping  at  his  sermon,  which  lies  behind  him  in 
the  pulpit. 

Nobody  ought   to  be  too  old  to  improve;  I  should  be 


1785.]  JOHN   HOWARD.  141 

sorry  if  I  was;  and  I  flatter  myself  I  have  already  im- 
proved considerably  by  my  travels.  First,  I  can  swallow 
gruel  soup,  egg  soup,  and  all  manner  of  soups,  without  mak- 
ing faces  much.  Secondly,  I  can  pretty  well  live  without 
tea ;  they  give  it,  however,  at  Geneva.  Thirdly,  I  am  less 
and  less  shocked,  and  hope  in  time  I  shall  be  quite  easy,  at 
seeing  gentlemen,  perhaps  perfect  strangers,  enter  my  room 
without  ceremony  when  I  am  in  my  bedgown.  I  would  not 
have  you  think,  however,  I  am  in  danger  of  losing  my 
modesty ;  for  if  I  am  no  longer  affected  at  some  things,  I 
have  learned  to  blush  at  others ;  and  I  will  tell  you,  as  a 
friend,  that  I  believe  there  is  but  one  indecency  in  France, 
which  is,  for  a  man  and  his  wife  to  have  the  same  sleeping- 
room.  "  Est  ce  votre  chambre,  madame,  ou  celle  de  M. 
votre  epoux  1 "  said  a  lady  to  me  the  other  day.  I  protest  I 
felt  quite  out  of  countenance  to  think  we  had  but  one. 

It  is  time  to  leave  Geneva,  for  I  see  from  my  window  the 
tops  of  Mount  Jura,  which  are  already  covered  with  snow ; 
and  we  have  had  a  vent  de  hise  so  severe  that  I  have  been 
confined  to  my  chamber,  it  is  now  the  sixth  day,  with  a  very 
painful  swelled  face. 

In  her  letter  from  Aix  to  Dr.  Aikin,  Mrs.  Barbauld 
speaks  of  meeting  his  friend,  and  also  her  own  and  her 
husband's,  the  eminent  philanthropist,  John  Howard, 
who  was  then  on  his  second  tour  of  examination  of  the 
lazarettos  and  prison-dens  of  the  Continent.  She  says 
that  he  was  "  well  and  in  good  spirits."     This  excellent 


142  LIFE   OF   MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  VII. 

man  had  for  some  years  devoted  himself  to  the  benevo- 
lent work  for  which  he  became  so  famous ;  and  after 
this  journey  he  became  interested  in  a  new  inquiry 
into  an  important  subject,  that  of  the  cause  and  cure 
of  the  terrible  pestilence  which  ravaged  the  southern 
countries  of  Europe  and  the  Levant,  —  the  plague.  On 
his  journey  through  the  eastern  countries  of  Europe, 
which  he  undertook  in  1789,  he  was  seized  with  a 
malignant  fever,  which  carried  him  off  after  a  short 
illness  on  the  20th  of  January,  1790.  In  one  of  Mrs. 
Barbauld's  letters  to  her  brother,  written  at  the  time  of 
his  son's  sudden  insanity,  which  made  him  only  an  ob- 
ject of  care  and  distress  to  his  father  for  the  remainder 
of  his  life,  she  tells  him  that  young  Howard  was  drink- 
ing tea  with  a  friend's  family,  when  he  suddenly  de- 
clared that  the  cup  of  tea  just  made  for  him  by  the  lady 
was  poisoned,  and  accused  her  of  attempting  to  kill 
him,  in  a  terrible  rage,  winch  showed  unmistakably 
his  mental  disorder.  In  the  letter  from  Aix,  Mrs.  Bar- 
bauld  alludes  to  "  the  folly  of  the  day "  in  France,  — 
"Animal  Magnetism,"  and  tells  her  brother  he  may 
make  a  sensation  by  introducing  the  new  treatment  in 
London.  Travelling  in  diligences  was  then  in  vogue  on 
the  Continent,  and  unless  parties  could  procure  a  car- 
riage, they  were  forced  to  take  that  mode  of  conveyance. 
The  Barbaulds  travelled  part  of  the  time  in  diligences, 
and  for  the  rest  in  their  own  carriage,  which  was  by  far 


1786.]  ANIMAL   MAGNETISM.  143 

the  most  agreeable  and  independent  manner  of  making 
a  journey  at  that  time,  as  they  could  easily  procure 
fresh  horses  at  the  post-stations,  and  rapidly  and  pleas- 
antly see  the  country. 

Aix,  February  9, 1786. 
....  "With  regard  to  ourselves,  we  have  at  length 
quitted  Marseilles,  where,  to  confess  the  truth,  we  stayed 
long  enough  to  be  pretty  'well  tired  of  it  ;  for  we  had  scarce 
any  acquaintance,  and  no  amusements  (the  play  excepted) 
but  what  we  could  procure  to  ourselves  by  reading  or  walk- 
ing. Some  delightful  walks  we  did  take  under  a  bright  sun 
and  a  clear  blue  sky,  which  would  have  done  honor  to  the 
fairest  months  in  the  English  calendar.  We  sailed  one  tine 
day  to  the  little  chateau  cT If,  a  league  from  the  port.  It  is 
used  as  a  prison  for  extravagant  or  disorderly  young  men, 
whom  their  parents  get  shut  up  here,  —  sometimes  to  avoid 
the  disgrace  of  a  more  public  punishment.  We  had  a  great 
pleasure  at  Marseilles  in  seeing  your  friend  Mr.  Howard  :  he 
was  well  and  in  good  spirits.  He  went  by  the  name  of  the 
English  Doctor,  and  as  such  has  prescribed,  he  told  us,  with 
tolerable  success.  If  you  have  a  mind  to  strike  a  good  stroke 
in  London,  introduce  magnetism  ;  't  is  in  France  the  folly 
of  the  day.  There  is  a  society  at  Marseilles  for  that  purpose, 
composed  of  gentlemen.  They  boast  they  can  "  lay  asleep  " 
when  they  please,  and  for  as  long  as  they  please  ;  and  that 
during  this  sleep  or  trance  the  mind  can  see  the  operations 
going  forward  in  the  corporeal  machine,  and  predict  future 
events.    One  of  them  offered  to  try  his  skill  on  Mr.  Barbauld  ; 


144  LIFE   OF   MRS.    BARBAULD.  [Chap.  VII. 

but  after  a  long  and  unpleasant  operation  of  rubbing  the  tem- 
ples and  forehead,  he  was  obliged  to  desist  without  success. 
Mr.  Howard  will  tell  you,  however,  they  operate  better  at 
Lyons,  as  he  saw  several  women  at  the  hospital  put  to  sleep 
in  a  minute  by  only  passing  the  hand  over  their  forehead. 

At  Marseilles  we  again  bought  a  carriage  (an  English 
chaise),  in  which  we  hope  to  perform  the  rest  of  our  journey  ; 
at  least  to  Paris.  The  road  from  Marseilles  to  Toulon  is  over 
mountains  which,  though  not  very  high,  are  the  beginning 
of  the  Alps.  They  are  in  many  parts  quite  naked  and 
craggy ;  in  others  covered  with  forests  of  pines ;  and  in 
many  they  have  had  the  industry  to  make  terraces  one  over 
another  to  the  very  top,  on  which  they  have  planted  vines, 
though  the  culture  must  demand  prodigious  labor,  for  they 
must  bring  all  the  earth.  The  almond-trees,  which  are  now 
in  full  flower,  scattered  here  and  there,  embellish  the  scene. 
At  Toulon  we  saw  the  arsenal,  which  contains  the  corderie, 
the  salle  d'armes,  the  naval  stores,  etc.  There  is  something 
horrible  in  the  clanking  of  the  chains  of  the  galley-slaves, 
who  are  chained  two  and  two,  and  employed  in  various  works 
within  the  place.  Three  or  four  galleys  lie  in  the  harbor, 
but  they  are  not  used  except  for  lodging  the  formats.  From 
Toulon  we  went  to  Hieres  j  and  how  think  you  did  we  go  1 
On  foot  every  step  of  the  way,  and  it  is  nine  miles  at  least. 
We  went  on  foot  because  the  roads  are  still  so  bad  we  dared 
not  venture  in  a  carriage.  Hieres  is  a  specimen  of  the 
Italian  climate  and  Italian  productions  :  to  the  south  it  is 
open  to  the  sea ;  every  other  quarter  is  fenced  with  hills. 


1756.]  HIEEES.  1-io 

The  town  lies  on  the  descent  of  the  hill,  and  is  surrounded 
with  groves  of  orange  and  lemon  trees,  glowing  in  the  bright- 
est beauty,  and  with  all  the  variety  of  color,  from  the  palest 
lemon  to  the  deep  and  almost  blood-red  species  of  orange. 
The  leaves,  of  a  vivid  green,  give  a  relief  to  the  fruit,  which 
is  in  so  great  an  abundance  that  I  have  hardly  seen  apple-trees 
so  full.  It  is  a  delicious  spot,  quite  the  garden  of  the  Hes- 
perides,  and  enjoys  a  constant  verdure.  The  hedges  are 
composed  of  myrtle,  holm-oak,  and  lentisk,  of  the  ashes  of 
which  latter  they  make  a  lye  with  which  they  preserve  their 
rai.-ins.  They  gather  green  peas  soon  after  Christmas  ;  every 
month  brings  its  peculiar  harvest.  Besides  the  corn,  wine, 
and  oil,  which  they  share  in  common  with  their  neighbors, 
they  have  vast  quantities  of  strawberries,  peaches,  kidney- 
beans,  all  kinds  of  fruit  and  garden  sturT.  Sweet  waters  and 
essences  are  distilled  from  the  orange-flowers  and  the  peel 
of  the  bergamot,  the  cedrat,  and  some  other  kinds  valuable 
for  their  fragrance.  Some  of  the  orange-gardens  are  worth 
from  twenty  to  twenty-six  thousand  livres  a  year.  From  an 
opposite  hill  there  is  a  view  of  the  town ;  above  it  a  convent 
of  Bernardines,  and  higher  still  the  ruined  walls  and  castle 
of  the  old  town  ;  the  whole  surrounded  with  a  bright  circle 
of  green  and  gold,  and  houses  of  a  shining  white  in  the 
midst  of  the  orange-gardens  ;  farther,  the  paler  green  of  the 
olives  ;  to  the  south,  the  sea  and  the  fishery  salt-works  :  and 
opposite,  the  islands  of  Hieres,  where  is  plenty  of  game. 
Winter  is  seen  peeping  at  this  little  paradise  from  the  top 
of  a  distant  mountain  covered  with  snow  ;  and  sometimes, 
7  j 


146  LIFE   OF  MBS.    BABBAULD.  [Chap.  VII. 

indeed,  he  sends  a  hoar-frost,  after  which  the  oranges  drop 
by  hundreds  from  the  trees. 

To  complete  our  expedition  and  vary  the  mode  of  trav- 
elling, we  returned  as  follows  :  I  upon  the  bourrique  of  a 
paysanne,  between  two  loaded  panniers,  Mr.  B.  walking 
before;  and  the  woman,  a  stout,  sunburnt,  cheerful  Pro- 
ven cal,  by  the  side  of  the  ass,  driving,  guiding,  and  halloo- 
ing it  onward.  Bread  and  figs,  which  we  put  in  the 
pannier  and  ate  as  we  went  along,  were  our  breakfast.  I 
rode  thus  two  leagues,  and  walked  with  Mr.  B.  the  third. 
And  now,  having  touched  the  utmost  limit  of  our  long  tour, 
it  is  with  inexpressible  pleasure 'we  reflect  that  every  step 
we  shall  for  the  future  take  will  bring  us  nearer  again  to 
those  dear  friends  in  whose  society  we  hope  to  spend  the 
rest  of  our  life.  We  propose  returning  by  Nismes,  Mont- 
pelier,  and  Bordeaux.  Aix  is  a  clean,  pretty  town  ;  the 
baths  and  the  fountains  of  hot  water  are  worth  seeing.  It 
is  full  of  clergy  and  men  of  the  law.  We  got  acquainted 
with  two  gentlemen  (an  officer  and  an  ecclesiastic)  who  were 
very  civil  to  us ;  but  we  could  not  help  being  diverted  with 
the  eagerness  with  which  they  recited  their  own  verses  (for 
they  were  both  versifiers),  their  gestures,  their  compliments 
to  each  other,  and  their  total  freedom  from  that  awkward 
bashfulness  which  hangs  on  us  English  when  we  have  written 
something  clever  that 'we  long  to  bring  into  notice,  and  do 
not  know  how  to  bring  it  about. 


1786.]  LETTEE   TO    MBS.    BEECROFT.  147 

Carcasoxxe,.  February  15,  1786. 
If  at  any  time,  and  in  any  place,  a  letter  from  my  dear 
Mrs.  Beecroft  has  always  given  me  a  sensible  pleasure,  she 
will  judge  how  grateful  it  must  have  been  to  my  heart  to  be 
remembered  by  her  with  so  much  kindness  and  affection, 
and  to  be  informed  of  her  welfare,  when  the  long  absence, 
when  the  tracts  of  land  and  seas  between  us  and  those  most 
dear  to  our  hearts,  render  accounts  from  England  doubly 
interesting.  And  indeed,  when  I  reflect  that  I  am  trans- 
ported from  the  banks  of  the  \Yaveney  to  the  shores  of  the 
Mediterranean,  I  am  ready  to  cry  out  with  Simkin,  — 
"  Methinks  we  're  a  wonderful  distance  from  home." 

The  scenes  we  have  passed  through  gratify  curiosity  and  fill 
the  imagination ;  but  you,  my  dear  friend,  in  the  mean  time, 
have  found  yourself  in  situations  which  awaken  feelings  the 

most    tender  and    interesting May  you  experience, 

may  you  feel,  all  the  sympathies,  all  the  tender  charities,  of 
every  relation,  all  of  which  you  are  so  fitted  to  adorn  ! 

The  ladies  of  this  country,  if  I  may  trust  what  their  own 
countrymen  say  of  them,  are  not  fond  of  these  domestic  ties ; 
they  wish  not  to  be  mothers  of  a  numerous  offspring  !  and 
their  husbands,  whose  claim  to  the  honor  is  somewhat  more 
dubious,  are  still  less  flattered  with  being  fathers  to  them. 
But  let  me  give  you  some  account  of  our  route.  From  Calais 
we  coasted,  as  I  may  say,  the  rich  plains  of  Flanders  and 
Artois,  which,  however,  had  lost  their  peculiar  beauty,  as 
the  harvest  was  got  in.  We  passed  through  a  part  of  Haute 
Picardie,  and,  leaving   Paris  on  our   right,   advanced  into 


148  LIFE  OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  VII. 

Champagne,  where  we  first  saw  the  production  that  most 
distinguishes  the  climate  of  France  from  ours,  —  the  boasted 
vineyards.  Having  visited  the  venerable  cathedral  of  Kheinis, 
we  crossed  several  pleasant  streams,  and  from  Troyes  traced 
the  delightful  windings  of  the  Seine  to  its  very  source.  We 
next  visited  Dijon  in  the  midst  of  the  vine-clad  hills  of 
Burgundy,  and  from  thence,  crossing  the  Saone,  struck  into 
Franchecomte ;  and  from  Dole  to  Besancon  travelled  along 
the  banks  of  the  Doux,  a  fine,  full  stream,  through  a  country 
more  varied  and  rich  with  prospects  than  we  had  yet  seen. 
From  varied,  the  country  became  romantic,  and  from  hilly, 
mountainous ;  nature  preparing,  as  it  were,  for  her  more 
majestic  scenes,  till  at  length  she  swells  into  full  grandeur, 
and  from  the  heights  of  Mount  Jura  the  Alps  are  discovered 
to  the  astonished  traveller. 

At  Geneva  we  were  greatly  delighted  with  the  society  and 
the  situation ;  but  the  winter  advanced  so  fast  upon  us  that 
we  were  obliged  to  abandon  our  design  of  visiting  Switzer- 
land. From  Geneva  to  Lyons  we  were  still  in  the  midst  of 
les  belles  horreurs,  steep  mountains,  cascades,  and  lakes.  At 
Lyons  the  winter  was  still  at  our  heels ;  so  down  the  rapid 
Rhone  we  sailed  in  search  of  the  climate  of  perpetual  spring, 
but  like  some  enchanted  island  it  seemed  to  fly  from  our 
pursuit.  At  Lyons  it  was  the  vent  du  Bhone,  at  Avignon  la 
Use,  at  Marseilles  the  mistral,  which  opposed  our  wishes  ; 
till  at  length,  in  the  orange-groves  of  Hieres,  we  found  the 
most  delicious  temperature  of  air  and  a  verdure  perpetually 
flourishing.     But  long  before  we  reached  Hieres,  between 


1786.1  NISMES.  149 

Lyons  and  Avignon,  we  got  amongst  the  olive  grounds,  the 
figs,  the  almonds,  and  pomegranates,  which  spread  over  all 
Provence  and  Languedoc.  But  they  have  not  here  the 
green  pasture,  the  lowing  herd,  the  hawthorn  hedge,  the 
haunt  of  birds,  nor  the  various  family  of  lofty  trees  which 
give  us  shade  in  summer  and  shelter  in  winter.  As  we  have 
been  chiefly  at  inns  hitherto,  I  cannot  say  a  great  deal  of  the 
inhabitants  in  general.  That  they  are  more  lively  and  eager 
in  their  gestures  and  manner  than  the  English  is  evident ; 
but,  as  to  that  great  air  of  gayety  you  mention,  and  which 
one  naturally  expects  to  find  in  France,  it  has  not  struck  us ; 
perhaps  it.  might  if  we  were  more  intimately  admitted  into 
their  families,  and  saw  the  young  and  the  gay ;  but  this  I 
assure  you,  they  are  not  to  be  found,  even  in  Provence, 
singing  and  dancing  under  every  green  tree.  We  have 
lately  visited  Msmes,  a  place  interesting  by  its  antiquities. 
La  Maison  Carree  is  the  most  delicate  and  finished  piece  of 
architecture  that  can  be  conceived ;  and  the  amphitheatre 
gives  the  most  striking  idea  of  Eoman  greatness.  It  is 
calculated  to  hold  18,000  people;  its  vast  cirque  cannot  be 
beheld  from  a  distance  without  astonishment,  —  all  the  other 
buildings  sink  into  nothing  before  it.  An  antiquity  perhaps 
more  beautiful  still  than  either  of  them  is  the  Pont  du  Gard, 
some  leagues  from  Nismes,  constructed  to  convey  water  to 
the  town.  It  looks  great  as  if  made  by  the  hands  of  giants, 
and  light  as  if  wrought  by  fairjes.  Nismes  has  likewise  a 
more  modern  work,  of  which  they  boast  much,  —  the  foun- 
tain, and  walks  belonging  to  it.     This,  as  well  as  the  Place 


150  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  VII. 

de  Perou  at  Montpelier,  is  laid  out  in  a  style  which  a 
Brown  or  a  Shenstone  would  but  little  approve ;  long, 
straight  walks,  trees  cut  into  form,  water  stagnating  in  stone 
basins  and  exactly  symmetrized.  All  this  suits  but  ill  with 
what  we  have  been  taught  to  call  taste ;  yet  there  is  an  air 
of  magnificence,  and  even  of  gayety,  that  in  its  kind  gives 
pleasure.  The  very  exhibition  of  art  and  expense  gives  an 
air  of  grandeur.  Its  being  a  work  made  by  men  suggests 
the  cheerfuL  idea  that  it  was  made  for  men ;  whereas  our 
more  rustic  scenes  seem  made,  if  not  for  melancholy,  at  least 
for  solitary  musing  ;  and,  in  the  last  place,  the  exact  pro- 
portion contrasts  it  with  the  surrounding  country. 

You  know,  probably,  that  Montpelier  is  famous  for  per- 
fumes. One  man,  who  has  got  a  large  fortune  by  them,  has 
planted  a  garden  with  rose-trees,  several  thousands  in  num- 
ber, which  in  summer  perfume  the  air  to  a  considerable 
distance. 

I  hoped  to  have  finished  this  letter  where  I  began  it,  at 
Montpelier ;  but  not  having  been  able  to  do  it  gives  me  an 
opportunity  to  tell  you  that  we  have  seen  at  Pesenas  an 
echantillon  of  the  diversions  of  the  Carnival.  The  young 
men  of  the  town,  with  the  young  ladies,  masked,  followed 
by  the  paysans  and  paysannes,  danced  by  torchlight  in  the 
streets,  upon  the  esplanade,  and  all  round  the  town,  to  the 
music  of  the  drum  and  fife,  followed  by  a  number  of  spec- 
tators of  all  ranks,  all  enjoying  the  cheerful  scene.  Pesenas  is 
a  delightful  place ;  the  peach  and  apricot  already  are  in  blossom 
there,  so  is  the  bean ;  numbers  of  almond-trees  are  in  full 


1786.]  THOULOUSE.  151 

bloom :  various  shrubs  are  green  with  spring,  and  some  trees 
begin  to  put  out.  To  crown  all,  we  found  there  a  very 
lovely  Englishwoman,  with  whom  and  her  husband  we 
spent  two  pleasant  days.  We  are  now  going  to  Bourdeaux, 
and  so  to  Orleans  and  Paris ;  after  which  I  am  sure  we  shall 
long  to  return  home. 

Mrs.  Barbauld  observed  with  natural  interest  and 
anxiety  the  condition  of  the  French  Protestants,  and 
mentions  in  her  letters  that  those  of  the  sect  at  Mar- 
seilles were  forced  to  hold  their  services  in  a  country- 
house,  no  other  edifice  being  allowed  them  ;  and  at 
Nismes  they  could  meet  only  in  the  open  air,  though 
that  town  was  considered  the  centre  of  Protestantism 
in  France,  and  the  members  of  that  church  in  Xismes 
were  estimated  at  thirty  thousand  persons. 

To  Dr.  Aikix. 

Thoulouse,  February  27,  1786. 
I  begin  this  letter  from  Thoulouse,  though  I  shall  prob- 
ably not  finish  it  before  we  get  to  Bourdeaux.  We  got  here 
last  night,  and  hoped  to  have  walked  about  the  town  to-day, 
where  they  say  there  is  a  good  deal  to  be  seen  ;  but  we  are 
confined  to  our  room  by  a  pretty  heavy  fall  of  snow,  which 
has  continued  the  whole  day.  We  are  at  present  convinced 
that  it  is  a  vain  expectation  to  escape  from  winter  by  going 
to  these  southern  climates  ;  at  Bengal,  I  suppose  it .  may  be 
done  :  but  the  southern  provinces  of  France  differ  more  in 


152  LIFE   OF   MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  VII. 

the  duration  than  in  the  degree  of  their  winter;  and  beyond 
all  doubt  they  have  more  sudden  and  violent  changes  of 
weather  than  we  have.  In  consequence,  they  dress  warmer 
than  we  do.  The  pelisse,  the  muff,  the  fur  gloves  and  shoes, 
the  hussar  cloak  and  flannel  linings,  are  all  common  here, 
and  found  necessary.  Yet  it  is  also  true  that  through  a 
great  part  of  the  winter  they  enjoy  the  most  delicious 
weather ;  and  that,  with  regard  to  one  or  other  of  their 
productions,  there  is  not  any  time  of  the  year  in  which  you 
do  not  meet  with  harvest  or  blossoms ;  for,  before  the  gather- 
ing of  olives  is  over,  the  almond-tree  is  in  flower.  Till 
within  these  four  days  we  have  had  fine  weather  for  a  long 
time ;  and  Lower  Languedoc,  through  which  our  route  has 
lain  since  we  crossed  the  Ehone,  has  worn  all  the  lovely 
features  of  spring.  At  Pesenas  (the  last  place  where  we 
made  any  stay),  the  peach,  apricot,  and  bean  were  beginning 
to  blossom ;  the  gardens  were  all  green  with  various  vege- 
tables, the  fields  with  corn,  and  a  few  trees  were  even  in 
leaf.  But  their  springs  are  apt  to  be  premature.  Here  (in 
Upper  Languedoc)  it  is  colder. 

Gratified  as  Ave  have  been  by  the  spring  of  Nature,  we 
have  been  no  less  so  by  the  hoary  ruins  of  Antiquity.  The 
vast  cirque  of  the  amphitheatre  at  Msmes  fills  the  mind 
with  an  amazing  idea  of  Eoman  greatness.  It  is  defaced  by 
a  number  of  buildings  in  the  area ;  which,  however,  are  to 
be  demolished,  and  the  venerable  ruin  kept  in  better  repair. 
To  repair  a  ruin  carries  a  better  sound  with  it  than  to  build 
a  ruin,  as  we  do  in  England.  La  Maison  Carree  is  a  bijou ; 
it  has  all  that  the  utmost  delicacy  and  richness  of  architec- 


1786.]  THE   CARNIVAL.  153 

ture  can  give.     But  we  prefer  to  them  both  the  Pont  du 
Gard. 

Xismes  is  the  very  centre  of  the  Protestants.  They  are 
computed  to  be  thirty  thousand,  and  the  richest  part  of  the 
inhabitants ;  for  here,  as  the  Dissenters  in  England,  they 
give  themselves  to  trade.  They  have  no  church,  nor  even 
barn  ;  but  assemble  in  the  desert,  as  they  call  it,  in  the  open 
air,  in  a  place  surrounded  by  rocks  which  reverberate  the 
voice.  The  pulpit  is  movable,  and  there  are  a  few  seats  of 
stone  for  the  elders.  On  their  great  festivals,  they  say,  the 
sight  is  very  striking. 

I  wish  you,  who  have  a  quarrel  to  some  of  our  English 
axioms  of  taste  in  gardening,  could  see  the  public  walks  of 
Kismes  and  Montpelier  ',  both  (especially  the  latter)  laid 
out  with  great  magnificence,  but  quite  in  the  old  style  of 
terraces,  fountains,  strait  alleys,  and  exact  symmetry  :  but 
the  whole  is  great,  and  was  to  me  very  new.  "We  intended 
to  have  taken  the  canal  at  Beziers,  but  the  bad  weather  pre- 
vented us.  From  Xarbonne  till  near  Thoulouse  we  had  on 
our  left  a  long  chain  of  mountains,  the  Pyrenees.  I  love  to 
see  those  everlasting  boundaries  of  nations.  We  had  not, 
however,  any  wish  to  cross  them  and  try  the  Spanish  accom- 
modations ;  there  are  difficulties  enow  of  that  kind  in 
France.  This  is  the  height  of  the  Carnival,  and  we  have 
seen,  as  we  came  along,  the  dance  on  the  green,  and  the 
masque  by  torchlight ;  but  in  general  I  am  afraid  there  is  a 
good  deal  of  coarseness  in  the  mirth  of  the  vulgar,  and  of 
licentiousness  in  the  gayety  of  the  rich.  From  Xarbonne  to 
7* 


154  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BAEBAULD.  [Chap.  VII. 

Thoulouse  there  are  a  great  many  chdteaux,  pompous  "build- 
ings with  towers,  but  no  ornamental  grounds  about  them  as 
in  England,  nor  anything  in  the  avenues,  hedges,  etc.,  that 
has  a  look  of  neatness.  I  fancy  the  rats  hold  a  glorious 
sabat  in  some  of  them.  I  should  tell  you  that  at  Montpelier 
we  saw  the  anatomical  theatre,  where  they  have  two  hun- 
dred students,  who  shave  and  dress  hair  to  pay  their  board 
and  lodging,  and  attend  dissections  and  study  surgery  with 
great  application  the  rest  of  their  time ;  and  they  say  they 
make  better  progress  than  those  that  have  money.  I  am 
sorry  I  cannot  send  you  a  slip  of  Eabelais's  scarlet  gown,  with 
which  sacred  relique  the  students  are  invested  when  they 
take  their  degrees.  The  meaning  of  which  I  take  to  be 
this,  —  that  laughing  may  cure  you  when  physic  would 
miss. 

The  situation  of  Thoulouse  seems  calculated  for  trade,  as 
the  noble  ^anal  of  Languedoc  meets  there  the  still  more 
noble  river  of  the  Garonne ;  yet  it  is  not  commercial,  as  the 
great  ambition  of  all  the  rich  inhabitants  is  directed  towards 
gaining  a  seat  in  Parliament,  which  ennobles  them;  and 
then  they  leave  trade.  You  may  guess  with  what  feelings 
we  saw  the  seat  of  that  parliament  which  condemned  Galas. 
The  spirit  of  the  times,  however,  thank  Heaven  !  is  greatly 
altered. 

Bourdeaux,  March  3.  —  We  are  arrived  here  to-day.  The 
road  from  Thoulouse  to  this  town  is  remarkably  pleasant. 
It  lies  mostly  along  the  banks  of  the  Garonne,  and  several 
fine  rivers  which  fall  into  it ;  the  Tarn,  the  Aveyron,  etc. 


1786.]  BOTJRDEAUX.  155 

On  the  other  side  is  a  ridge  of  hilly  ground  quite  sandy, 
covered  with  vines,  which  indeed  have  a  most  desolate 
appearance  at  this  time  of  the  year  ;  but  fancy  can  spread 
the  foliage  and  hang  the  purple  clusters.  On  the  river-side 
are  fine  rich  valleys  covered  with  corn,  and  here  and  there 
pasture-ground  :  no  more  olives,  but  groves  of  oak  ;  no  more 
almond-blossoms,  but  hedges  of  hawthorn.  On  Shrove 
Tuesday  (which  was  a  remarkably  fine  day)  every  town  and 
every  village  was  poured  out  upon  the  road,  all  dressed 
and  dancing,  each  lad  with  his  lass.  What  I  should  not 
have  supposed,  they  dance  too  on  Ash  "Wednesday ;  for, 
though  the  churches  were  pretty  full  in  the  morning  of 
dismal-looking  figures  in  black  hoods,  who  came  to  confess 
the  sins  of  the  Carnival,  the  greater  part  put  the  English 
interpretation  upon  a  holy  day,  and  considered  it  as  a  holi- 
day. Though  we  have  not  yet  seen  much  of  Bourdeaux,  a 
walk  this  afternoon  has  convinced  us  it  is  a  more  magnificent 
town  than  any  we  have  yet  seen  in  France.  It  happens,  too, 
to  be  the  fair. 

....  The  road  from  Tours  to  Orleans  on  the  winding 
banks  of  the  Loire  is  delightfully  pleasant  ;  but  we  had  not 
fine  weather  enough  to  enjoy  all  its  beauty ;  for  we  have 
had  the  second  winter  you  speak  of,  in  all  its  severity  of 
snow  and  frost.  We  were  particularly  pleased,  however, 
with  Tours.  It  has  one  street  of  more  complete  beauty 
than  any  street  I  have  yet  seen,  terminated  at  one  end  by  a 
fine  bridge  over  the  Loire,  at  the  other  by  one  of  the  noblest 
malls  in  the  kingdom.     Blois  is  delightful  from  its  situation, 


156  LIFE   OF   MRS.    BARBAULD.  [Chap.  VII. 

and  interesting  from  the  events  which  have  taken  place 
within  its  now  deserted  walls.  Orleans  is  entirely  a  town 
of  commerce ;  and  it  seems  to  nourish,  for  they  live  remark- 
ably well  there.  Trade  may  have  been  despised  formerly  in 
France  ;  but  I  am  sure  it  cannot  be  now  there  are  such  towns 
as  Lyons,  Bourdeaux,  and  Orleans,  where  it  displays  its 
effects  in  all  the  pride  of  opulence.  "We  have  been  now  a 
month  in  Paris,  and  here  the  objects  of  curiosity  crowd  upon 
us.  In  the  provinces  they  are  scattered  here  and  there  ;  but 
in  the  capital,  palaces,  pictures,  statues,  public  gardens, 
meet  you  at  every  step,  and  all  the  powers  of  observation 
and  organs  of  perception  are  agreeably  filled.  The  societies 
of  Paris  do  not  obtrude  themselves  in  like  manner  on  your 
notice ;  on  the  contrary,  it  is  pretty  difficult  to  get  suffi- 
ciently into  them  to  judge  of  their  complexion  and  character. 
We  shall  have  been,  however,  in  a  few  of  them,  and  shall 
have  seen  many  agreeable  individuals.  English  is  very 
much  studied  here  at  present :  there  are  a  great  many  who 
read,  and  some  who  talk  it.  Everything  of  English  fabric 
and  workmanship  is  preferred  here,  and  not  without  reason. 
They  have  an  idea  here  very  contrary  to  ours ;  for  they  say 
the  English  invent,  and  the  Erench  bring  to  perfection. 
They  are  going  to  enclose  all  Paris  and  its  suburbs  by  an 
immense  wall.  It  puts  one  in  mind  of  hedging  in  the  cuckoo ; 
but  it  is  to  prevent  smuggling.  We  have  had  the  good 
fortune  to  get  very  clean  lodgings  :  they  are  near  the  Pont 
Royal  and  the  Tuileries,  both  which  we  often  cross,  and 
never  without  fresh  admiration  at  the  number  of  beautiful 


1786.]  PARIS.  157 

buildings  and  gay  objects.  I  like  the  gardens  of  the  Tuileries 
better  than  our  St.  James's  Park ;  for,  though  they  are  some- 
what disgraced  by  the  old-fashioned  parterre,  yet  on  the 
•whole  they  are  more  gay,  more  lively  ;  the  view  from  the 
terrace  commands  a  greater  variety  of  objects ;  the  Tuileries 
is  more  adorned,  and  the  various  groups  of  all  ranks  — 
some  taking  lemonade,  some  sitting  on  the  grass,  some  even 
reading  —  give  an  air  of  ease  and  enjoyment  more  than  is 
to  be  seen  in  our  Park.  This  is  rather  an  unfortunate  time 
for  seeing  paintings,  as  the  king's  pictures  are  all  taken  down 
in  order  to  be  arranged  and  put  up  in  the  gallery  of  the 
Louvre,  which  is  preparing  for  their  reception  :  and  when 
that  fine  building  is  filled  with' so  noble  a  collection,  it  will 
have  few  things  in  Europe  superior. 

One  great  advantage  which  Paris  has  as  a  town  over 
London  is  its  quais,  by  which  means  they  enjoy  their  river 
and  the  fine  buildings  upon  it.  As  to  the  streets,  most  of 
them  are  certainly  narrow,  but  not  absolutely  impracticable 
to  the  poor  pieton,  as  I  had  been  taught  to  believe  ;  for,  when 
not  dressed,  I  walk  about  a  good  deal.  They  say,  however, 
a  great  many  accidents  happen,  which  their  boasted  police 
takes  more  care  to  stifle  than  to  prevent ;  if  a  man  is  run 
over  by  a  coach,  they  dare  not  put  it  in  any  public  papers. 
The  streets  are  full  of  little  cabriolets,  which  drive  very  fast ; 
they  are  forbidden,  but  people  have  them  notwithstanding. 
AVe  have  been  at  two  of  their  academies,  that  of  Sciences, 
and  that  of  Belles  Lettres.  Several  eloges  were  read,  well 
drawn  up  j  prizes  proposed,  etc.     They  clap  hands  as  at  the 


158  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  VII. 

playhouse,  when  a  sentiment  or  expression  pleases  them. 
The  theatre  sinks  in  France  as  well  as  England  ;  for,  as  Mrs. 
Siddons  stands  alone,  we  may  well  say  it  sinks.  They  are 
building  a  very  fine  church,  St.  Genevieve  ;  and  in  general 
there  is  a  good  deal  of  new  building  as  well  as  in  London. 
We  have  yet  a  vast  deal  to  see ;  but  we  shall  see  it  as  fast 
as  we  can,  that  we  may  return  to  those  friends  who  will  be 
only  dearer  to  us  from  absence. 

The  following  letter  to  Mrs.  Taylor  of  Norwich  con- 
tains some  excellent  remarks  on  the  condition  of  the 
stage  in  France,  and  has  quite  an  extended  description 
of  Paris  as  then  seen  by  tourists. 

To.  Mrs.   Taylor. 

Paris,  June  7,  1786. 
Dear  Madam,  —  Though  we  expect  now  very  soon  to  fin- 
ish our  long  pilgrimage,  I  cannot  quit  this  country  without 
giving  you  a  little  testimonial  that  in  it  we  think  of  those 
beloved  English  friends  from  whom  the  sea  now  divides  us  : 
they  are  often  recalled  to  my  mind  by  different  and  opposite 
trains  of  thinking,  —  for  contrast,  you  know,  is  one  source 
of  association ;  and  when  I  see  the  Parisian  ladies  covered 
with  rouge  and  enslaved  by  fashion,  cold  to  the  claims  of 
maternal  tenderness,  and  covering  licentiousness  with  the 
thin  veil  of  a  certain  factitious  decency  of  manners,  my 
thoughts  turn  away  from  the  scene,  and  delight  to  contem- 
plate   the   charming   union  formed   by  deep   affection   and 


1786.]  PARIS.  159 

lasting  esteem,  —  the  mother  endowed  with  talents  and 
graces  to  draw  the  attention  of  polite  circles,  yet  devoting 
her  time  and  cares  to  her  family  and  children,  —  English 
delicacy,  unspoiled  beauty,  and  unaffected  sentiment,  — 
when  I  think  of  these  (and  your  friends  will  not  be  at 
a  loss  to  guess  where  I  look  for  them),  it  gives  the 
same  relief  to  my  mind  as  it  would  to  my  eye,  when 
wearied  and  dazzled  by  their  sand-walks  and  terraces,  if  it 
could  repose  upon  the  cheerful  and  soft  green  of  our  lawny 
turf.  I  would  not,  however,  have  you  imagine  that  I  am 
out  of  humor  with  Paris,  where  we  have  enjoyed  much 
pleasure ;  only  it  is  the  result  of  our  tour,  that,  taking  in  all 
things,  manners  and  government  as  well  as  climate,  we  like 
our  own  country  best :  and  this  is  an  opinion  certainly  favor- 
able to  our  happiness,  who  shall  probably  never  leave  Eng- 
land again.  The  weather  with  us  is,  and  has  been,  extremely 
hot.  The  trees  are  in  their  freshest  green ;  but  one  sees  that 
the  grass  will  soon  be  burnt  if  we  have  not  rain.  Indeed, 
they  are  obliged  every  day  to  water  the  turf  in  all  their 
gardens  where  they  are  solicitous  about  verdure.  The  en- 
virons of  Paris  are  charming,  yet,  I  think,  evidently  inferior 
to  those  of  London.  Yesterday  (Whitsunday)  we  were 
gratified  with  a  view  of  all  the  magnificence  of  Versailles. 
In  compliment  to  the  day  the  water-works  played,  and  there 
was  the  brilliant  procession  of  the  cordon  bleu ;  in  conse- 
quence of  which  all  Paris  in  a  manner  was  poured  into  Ver- 
sailles ;  and  I  was  ready  to  forgive  the  enormous  expense 
and  ostentation  of  this  palace,  when  I  saw  numerous  people 


160  LIFE   OF   MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  VII. 

of  all  sorts  and  degrees  filling  the  rooms  and  wandering  in 
the  gardens,  full  of  admiration,  and  deriving  both  pleasure 
and  pride  from  their  national  magnificence ;  and  many  a  one, 
I  dare  say,  exulted  in  the  thought  that  the  grand  monarques 
horses  are  better  lodged  than  is  the  King  of  England  himself. 
The  grand  gallery  filled  with  Le  Brun's  paintings  is  of  a 
striking  beauty ;  the  gardens  are  full  of  water  thrown  up  in 
artificial  fountains,  and  glittering  through  artificial  bosquets  ; 
the  walks  are  adorned  with  whole  quarries  of  marble  wrought 
into  statues.  In  short,  art  and  symmetry  reign  entirely ; 
and  I  hope  they  will  never  attempt  to  modernize  these 
gardens,  because  they  are  a  model  of  magnificence  in  their 
kind,  and  art  appears  with  so  much  imposing  grandeur  that 
she  seems  to  have  a  right  to  reign.  The  petit  Trianon,  be- 
longing to  the  Queen,  is  in  another  style ;  with  cottages  and 
green  lawns  and  winding  walks  of  flowering  shrubs  in  the 
English  mode,  which  indeed  prevails  very  much  at  present. 

There  is  a  person  here,  the  Abbe  D'Hauy,  who  teaches  the 
blind  to  read  .by  means  of  books  printed  expressly  for  them 
in  a  relief  of  white.  The  undertaking  is  curious  ;  but  they 
are  at  present  somewhat  in  the  state  of  the  blind  men 
brought  up  for  painters  in  the  island  of  Laputa,  who  were 
not  so  perfect  in  the  mixing  their  colors  but  that  they  some- 
times mistook  blue  for  red. 

The  Erench  stage  is  not,  I  think,  at  present  very  bril- 
liant ;  three  of  their  best  actors  have  lately  left  it.  But  at 
the  Italian  theatre  they  have  a  delightful  little  piece,  which 
under  the  name  of  a  comic  opera  draws  tears  from  all  the 


1786.]  PARIS.  161 

world.  It  is  called  Mna,  or  La  Eolle  d' Amour,  and  Mad- 
emoiselle Du  Gazon  acts  the  part  of  Xina,  and  does  it  with 
such  enchanting  grace,  such  sweet  and  delicate  touches  of 
sensibility  and  passion,  as  I  never  saw  upon  any  theatre.  It 
is  the  sweet  bells  jangled  out  of  tune,  but  not  harsh ;  no 
raving,  no  disorder  of  dress ;  but  every  look  and  gesture 
showed  an  unsettled  mind,  and  a  tenderness  inimitable. 
At  the  Opera  they  have  likewise  an  actress  full  of  grace, 
Mademoiselle  St.  Huberti ;  but  there  it  is  a  grace  beyond 
mere  nature.  Everybody  (that  is,  everybody  who  follows 
the  fashion)  leaves  Paris  in  the  summer,  which  was  not  the 
case  some  years  ago.  We  stay  now  for  a  fine  show,  —  the 
procession  on  the  Fete  Dieu,  in  which  all  the  tapestry  of 
the  Gobelins  is  exposed  in  the  streets.  We  shall  return  by 
Calais  and  proceed  immediately  to  London,  where  we  shall 
take  lodgings  for  some  time. 

Will  you  do  me  the  favor  to  remember  us  with  grateful 
affection  to  all  our  friends  at  Norwich  ]  There  are  so  many 
that  claim  our  esteem,  I  do  not  attempt  to  enumerate  them ; 
but  do  not  forget  to  give  a  kiss  for  us  to  each  of  your  dear 
boys,  and  to  assure  Mr.  Taylor  of  Mr.  Barbauld's  and  my 
affectionate  esteem. 

As  the  travellers  turned  their  steps  homeward,  Mrs. 
Barbauld's  letters  show  that  she  felt  rather  impatient 
to  return  to  England,  and  expressed  much  pleasure  at 
the  prospect  of  meeting  again  her  family  and  friends. 
While  the  Barbaulds  were  in  Paris,  the   termination 

K 


162  .  LIFE   OF   MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  VII. 

came  of  the  affair  of  the  Diamond  Necklace,  mys- 
terious and  disgraceful  in  all  its  incidents.  In  this 
case  the  notorious  Cardinal  Eohan  figured,  and  Marie 
Antoinette  was  personated  by  a  girl  named  Leguet  or 
D'Oliva,  at  the  instigation  of  the  principal  in  the  plot, 
Madame  Lamotte.  The  trial  and  its  result  are  well 
known  ;  Talleyrand  Perigord  wrote  to  a  friend:  "Attend 
narrowly  to  that  miserable  affair  of  the  necklace.  I 
should  not  be  surprised  if  it  overturned  the  throne." 

To  Dr.  Aikin. 

Paris,  June  7,  1786. 
....  The  affair  of  Cardinal  Eohan,5"  which  has  so 
much  engrossed  the  talk  at  Paris,  is  at  length  decided  ;  hut 
we  have  not  been  able  to  see  without  indignation  the  de- 
cisions of  the  Parliament  altered  in  almost  every  instance  by 
the  pleasure  of  the  King;  so  that  judicial  proceedings  are 
mere  child's  play  in  this  country.  A  grocer  has  got  himself 
into  the  Bastille  by  writing  a  pamphlet  on  this  occasion ;  in 
which  he  insinuates  that  the  Queen  herself  was  in  the  plot, 
and  that  Madame  Oliva  was  the  cloud  by  means  of  which 
she  played  the  fable  of  Ixion  on  the  poor  Cardinal.  In 
short,  people's  conjectures  are  as  much  afloat  since  the 
decision  as  before.  The  king  of  Prussia  is  reported  to  have 
said,  "  Qu'il  falloit  que  le  Cardinal  montrat  beaucoup  d'esprit 
pour  prouver  qu'il  n'avait  Cte  que  bete."  Among  the  long 
list  of  titles  which  figure  at  the  head  of  his  Mcmoire,  that 
of  Academicien  is  not  found  :  the  reason,  they  say,  is,  that 

*  The  Diamond  Necklace. 


1786.]  PARIS.  163 

his  avocat,  at  the  request  of  the  Academy  (who  feared  they 
might  be  disgraced  by  the  fellowship  of  such  an  associate), 
persuaded  him  to  leave  it  out,  by  telling  him  that,  for  the 
other  titles,  they  implied  no  parts  ;  but  that  of  Academicien 
—  supposing  a  man  of  superior  genius  and  knowledge  — 
might  hurt  him  in  his  trial,  as  his  only  defence  must  rest  on 
his  proving  himself  un  imbeciUe ;  and  so  much  for  the 
Cardinal. 

We  were  the  other  day  at  the  Museum,  a  place  lately  set 
up,  intended  as  a  repository  for  works  of  art ;  likewise  as  a 
centre  of  communication  with  the  learned  in  any  part  of 
Europe,  who,  by  corresponding  with  M.  de  la  Blancherie, 
may  have  their  discoveries  published  or  their  questions 
answered,  if  possible  to  answer  them ;  nay,  I  believe  I  need 
not  have  put  in  that  restriction,  for  a  Frenchman  is  never  at 
a  loss  to  answer  any  question.  The  plan  seems  good  ;  but  I 
was  greatly  diverted  with  the  following  question,  published 
in  one  of  their  weekly  papers  :  "  Whether  the  societies 
called  Clubs  in  England,  and  now  imitated  in  Paris,  might 
not  tend  to  render  their  members  morose  and  taciturnes ; 
since  by  the  laws  of  such  meetings  only  one  person  must 
speak  at  a  time,  and  that  only  for  a  certain  number  of 
minutes  %  "  An  author  may  read  his  piece  at  this  Museum  ; 
but  as  the  doors  are  not  locked,  it  may  chance  that  the  com- 
pany slip  away  one  by  one  and  leave  him  alone,  as  I  suspect 
might  be  the  case  with  a  young  novel-writer  whom  we  in 
like  manner  escaped  from  there  the  other  day.  By  the  way, 
I  have  found  out  the  reason  why  the  Erench  have  so  little 
poetry  :  it  is  because  everybody  makes  verses. 


164  LIFE   OF   MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  VII. 

"We  have  been  at  Versailles  and  St.  Cloud  :  the  latter  is 
now  fitting  np  for  the  Queen.  The  situation  is  far  more 
delightful  than  Versailles ;  but  that,  by  force  of  expense, 
has  a  magnificence  which  no  palace  I  have  seen  can  compare 
with.  We  saw  it  on  Whitsunday,  when  the  waters  play. 
The  environs  of  Paris  are  now  very  pleasant ;  and  they  are 
very  animated,  without  being,  I  think,  quite  so  crowded  as 
those  of  London.  They  do  not  make  hay  here  till  St. 
John's  day  (the  24th  of  June),  which  I  think  is  later  than 
near  London ;  yet  the  weather  has  been  very  hot. 

I  was  recommended  to  an  English  nun ;  and,  after  going  to 
see  her  twice,  she  had  the  goodness  to  send  a  parcel  of  books 
to  convert  me  :  so  you  see  there  is  some  zeal  left  in  the 
female  convents  at  least;  as  to  the  priests  and  monks,  I 
believe  they  have  very  little  indeed. 


1786.]  RETURN   TO   ENGLAND.  165 


CHAPTEE   VIII. 

The  Barbaulds  return  to  England.  —  They  reside  in  London  for 
a  few  Months.  —  Social  Life  there.  —  Removal  to  Hampstead.  — 
Hampstead  and  its  Inhabitants.  —  Mrs.  Barbauld  writes  '-'Ad- 
dress TO  THE  OPPOSERS    OF  THE    REPEAL  OF    THE   CORPORATION   AND 

Test  Acts."  —  Cause   of  the  Act  and  Occasion  for  the  Repeal. 
—  Final  Success  of  the  Advocates  of  the  Measures. 

IN"  the  following  letter  from  London,  written  imme- 
diately after  their  return,  Mrs.  Barbauld  describes 
to  Dr.  Aikin  their  last  foreign  sight-seeing  at  Chantilly, 
and  gives  the  pretty  inscription  held  by  a  Cupid  on  the 
Isle  d' Amour.  Home,  to  the  traveller  of  true  feeling 
and  heart,  is  always  the  happiest  part  of  his  or  her 
journey,  and  Mrs.  Barbauld  speaks  of  the  "  pleasing- 
emotion  "  with  which  she  again  viewed  the  shores  and 
white  cliffs  of  her  native  island.  The  travellers  had  a 
good  passage  from  Boulogne  to  Dover,  and  landed  in 
England  much  benefited  by  their  journey,  which  brought 
with  it  health  and  rest  and  a  pleasing  variety  of  ex- 
periences ;  a  change  of  scene,  climate,  and  society. 

London,  June  29,  1786. 
aEy  dear  Brother,  —  I  am  happy  to  write  to  you  again 
from  English  ground.     'We  set  out  from  Paris  on  the  17th, 


166  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  VIII. 

"but  went  no  further  than  Chantilly,  as  we  meant  to  devote 
the  whole  of  the  next  day  to  seeing  that  noble  seat  of  the 
Prince  of  Conde,  which,  both  for  the  house  and  grounds,  is 
the  finest  we  have  seen  in  France.  The  stables,  which  hold 
three  hundred  horses,  are  a  most  beautiful  piece  of  architec- 
ture. There  is  a  noble  museum  and  armory  in  the  palace ;  a 
fine  piece  of  artificial  water  in  the  gardens,  which  are  laid 
out  partly  in  the  English,  partly  in  the  French  style,  and  in 
the  best  taste  of  both ;  a  dairy  floored  and  lined  with  marble, 
and  in  which  all  the  utensils  are  of  marble  or  fine  porcelain  ; 
a  menagerie ;  an  orangerie,  all  the  plants  of  which  (some 
hundreds)  being  set  out  and  in  full  blossom  diffused  the 
richest  perfume  I  ever  was  regaled  with.  Lisle  oV  Amour  is 
one  of  the  prettiest  parts  of  the  garden,  abounding  with 
alleys  and  walks,  some  close,  others  gay  and  airy,  formed  by 
light  lattice-work  covered  with  privet  and  adorned  with  the 
greatest  profusion  of  honeysuckles  and  roses.  In  the  centre 
of  the  island  is  a  statue  of  a  Cupid  without  wings  or  quiver, 
holding  a  heart  with  these  lines  :  — 

"  N'offrant  qu'un  cceur  a  la  beaute, 

Aussi  nud  que  la  verite, 

Sans  amies  comme  l'innocence, 

Sans  ailes  comme  la  Constance, 

Tel  fut  l'Amour  au  siecle  d'or  ; 
On  ne  le  trouve  plus,  mais  on  le  clierche  encore." 

The  temple  of  Venus  is  a  large  saloon,  in  which  are  foun- 
tains continually  throwing  up  water,  which  falls  again  into 
agate  vases,  leaning  over  which  are  Cupids  of  marble.     The 


1786.]  RETURN   TO   ENGLAND.  167 

whole  room  is  painted,  and  breathes  a  coolness  and  gayety 
quite  enchanting.  As  we  were  walking  in  these  gardens  we 
had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  a  balloon  fly  over  our  heads ;  it 
was  in  full  sail  for  England  with  M.  Tetu,  who  had  set  off 
from  Paris  that  morning.  However,  with  our  humbler  mode 
of  travelling  we  got  to  Dover  first  :  for  the  lightning  caught 
the  car,  and,  though  the  aerial  traveller  received  no  damage 
from  it,  he  was  obliged  to  lie  by  to  refit  his  balloon,  which 
descended  not  far  from  Boulogne.  From  Boulogne  we  took 
our  passage.  \Ve  had  intended  to  have  gone  on  to  Calais, 
but  it  was  four  posts  more ;  and  besides,  we  were  told  that 
the  passage  from  Boulogne,  though  longer,  was  generally 
performed  in  less  time,  and  was  now  preferred ;  winch  we 
found  to  be  true  :  we  were  obliged,  indeed,  to  wait  a  clay  for 
a  vessel,  but  we  got  over  in  less  than  four  hours.  And  not 
without  a  pleasing  emotion  did  we  view  again  the  green 
swelling  hills  covered  with  large  sheep,  and  the  winding 
road  bordered  with  the  hawthorn  hedge,  and  the  English 
vine  twisted  round  the  tall  poles,  and  the  broad  Medway 
covered  with  vessels,  and  at  last  the  gentle  yet  majestic 
Thames.  Xor  did  we  find  these  home-scenes  had  lost  of 
their  power  to  strike  or  charm  us  by  all  we  had  seen  abroad. 

To  Mrs.  Beecroft. 

Lo>t>on,  July  7,  1786. 
I  feel  an  impatience  at  being  again  on  English  ground, 
and  yet  not  being  able  to  hear  news  of  you.     My  imagina- 
tion pictures  you  with  a  lovely  burden  in  your  arms,  — 
whether  boy   or  girl  she   is  not   able  to  determine,  but   a 


168  LIFE   OF   MRS.    BARBAULD.  [Chap.  VIII. 

charming  infant,  however,  that  exercises  your  sweet  sprightli- 
ness  in  entertaining  it,  and  delights  your  sensibility  by  its 
early  notice.     But  of  this  delightful  circumstance  I  want  to 

be  certain In  the  mean  time  let  me  give  you  some 

account  of  ourselves.  After  having  spent  so  much  time  at 
Paris  that  we  were  obliged  to  give  up  our  original  design  of 
visiting  Flanders,  we  returned  -by  way  of  Chantilly 

I  could  not  help  being  struck  with  the  neatness  and 
civility  of  all  the  inns  on  the  road  from  Dover  to  London. 
In  neatness  the  English  are  acknowledged  to  excel;  and 
though  the  upper  rank  in  France  may  practise  politeness 
with  more  ease  and  grace  than  we  do,  yet  it  is  certain  that 
the  lower  orders  are  much  less  respectful  and  more  grossier 
than  ours  of  the  same  class. 

I  do  not  know  how  it  is,  I  think  verily  London  is  a  finer 
town  than  Paris  ;  and  yet  it  does  not  appear  to  me  since  my 
return  so  magnificent  as  it  used  to  do  :  I  believe  the  reason 
is,  that  Paris  has  so  much  the  advantage  in  being  built  of 
stone.  Another  advantage  to  the  environs  derived  from  that 
is,  that  they  are  not  fumigated  by  the  abominable  brick- 
kilns which  are  so  numerous  near  our  metropolis. 

There  is  not  much  new  at  present  in  French  polite  litera- 
ture. M.  Florian  has  published  a  didactic  romance,  "  Xuma 
Pompilius,"  in  imitation  of  Telemachus,  but  it  is  heavy. 

Mrs.  Barbauld  in  her  letter  from  Caroline  Street, 
where  they  lived  in  lodgings  while  undecided  as  to 
their  future  plans,  writes  to  her  brother  of  Burns,  "  the 
Scottish  ploughman,"  whose  poems  she  was  reading. 


1787.]  BURNS,    AND    OTHER   POETS.  169 

She  mentions  some  other  instances  of  uneducated 
poets,  who  lacked,  however,  the  true  genius  and  poetic 
fire  of  Burns,  and  were  soon  forgotten..  Her  compari- 
son of  the  simple  and  unstudied  but  genuine  and 
natural  poetry  of  Burns  with  that  of  Shenstone,  ele- 
gant, polished,  and  elaborately  correct,  but  rather  feeble 
and  wanting  strength  of  thought  and  expression,  rather 
surprises  one  now  when  the  verdict  of  another  age  has 
placed  Burns  in  the  foremost  ranks  of  British  poets  for 
his  genius  and  song.  Dugald  Stewart,  in  his  sketch  of 
Bums,  says  that  the  Collection  of  Songs,  prepared  and 
edited  with  an  essay  by  Dr.  Aikin,  he  put  into  the 
poet's  hands,  and  "  he  read  "  the  book  "  with  unmixed 
delight,  notwithstanding  his  former  efforts  in  that  very 
difficult  species  of  writing."  This  mighty  master  of 
song  may  have  owed  some  of  his  inspiration  to  the 
taste  of  Dr.  Aikin,  and  been  led  by  his  classical  knowl- 
edge and  study,  which  were  embodied  in  the  essay,  to 
more  extended  and  elevated  thought  on  the  subject. 

To  Dr.  Aikix. 

Caroline  Street,  January  31,  1787. 
I  do  not  owe  yon  a  letter,  't  is  true  ;  but  what  of  that  ?  I 
take  it  for  granted  you  will  like  to  hear  from  me ;  and  to 
hear  from  or  write  to  you  gives  me  more  pleasure  than  most 
things  in  this  great  city.  The  hive  is  now  full ;  almost 
everybody  that  intends  to  come  to  town  is  come,  and  the 
streets   rattle   with  carriages    at    all    hours.       Do    not    you 


170  LIFE   OF   MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  VIII. 

remember  reading  in  the  "  Spectator  "  of  a  great  black  tower, 
from  which  were  cast  nets  that  catched  up  everybody  that 
came  within  a  certain  distance  1  This  black  tower  I  inter- 
pret to  be  this  great  smoky  city ;  and  I  begin  to  be  afrai'd 
we  are  got  too  much  within  its  attraction,  for  the  nets  seem 
to  be  winding  round  about  us ;  nay,  we  had  some  serious 
thoughts  last  week  of  setting  up  our  tent  here 

We  are  got  into  the  visiting  way  here,  which  I  do  not 
consider  quite  as  idle  employment,  because  it  leads  to  con- 
nections ;  but  the  hours  are  intolerably  late.  The  other  day 
at  Mrs.  Chapone's  none  of  the  party  but  ourselves  was  come 
at  a  quarter  before  eight ;  and  the  first  lady  that  arrived 
said  she  hurried  away  from  dinner  without  waiting  for  the 

coffee.    There  goes  a  story  of  the  Duchess  of  D ,  that  she 

said  to  a  tradesmaD,  "  Call  on  me  to-morrow  morning  at  four 
o'clock  "  ;  and  that  the  honest  man,  not  being  aware  of  the  ex- 
tent of  the  term  morning,  knocked  the  family  up  some  hours 
before  daybreak.     Last  week  we  met  the  American  bishops  at 

Mr.  V 's,  if  bishops  they  may  be  called,  without  title, 

without  revenue,  without  diocese,  and  without  lawn  sleeves. 
I  wonder  our  bishops  will  consecrate  them,  for  they  have 
made  very  free  with  the  Common  Prayer,  and  have  left  out 
two  creeds  of  the  three.  Indeed,  as  to  the  Athanasian 
Creed,  the  King  has  forbidden  it  in  his  chapel,  so  that  will 
soon  fall. 

I  have  been  much  pleased  with  the  poems  of  the  Scottish 
ploughman,  of  which  you  have  had  specimens  in  the  Review. 
His  "  Cotter's  Saturday  Night  "  has  much  of  the  same  kind 
of  merit  as  the   "  Schoolmistress "  of  Shenstone  ;    and  the 


1787.]  LITERARY   GOSSIP.  171 

"  Daisy  "  and  the  "  Mouse,"  which  I  believe  you  have  had  in 
the  papers,  I  think  are  charming.  The  endearing  diminutives 
and  the  Doric  rusticity  of  the  dialect  suit  such  subjects  ex- 
tremely. This  is  the  age  for  self-taught  genius  :  a  subscrip- 
tion has  been  raised  for  a  pipe-maker  of  Bristol,  who  has  been 
discovered  to  have  a  poetic  turn  ;  and  they  have  transplanted 
him  to  London,  where  they  have  taken  him  a  little  shop? 
which  probably  will  be  frequented  at  first  and  then  deserted. 
A  more  extraordinary  instance  is  that  of  a  common  car- 
penter at  Aberdeen,  who  applied  to  the  professors  to  be 
received  in  the  lowest  mathematical  class  :  they  examined 
him,  and  found  he  was  much  beyond  it ;  then  for  the  next, 
and  so  on,  till  they  found  he  had  taught  himself  all  they 
could  teach  him ;  and,  instead  of  receiving  him  as  a  student, 
they  gave  him  a  degree. 

Miss  Bowdler's  Essays  are  read  here  by  the  graver  sort 
with  much  approbation.  She  is  the  lady  who  betook  herself 
to  writing,  upon  having  lost  her  voice ;  but,  above  all,  the 
"Political  State"  for  1797  is  read  by  everybody.  The 
Eton  boys  have  published  a  periodical  paper  among  them- 
selves, which  they  say  is  clever.  Dr.  Price  has  a  letter 
from  Mr.  Howard,  dated  Amsterdam ;  he  says  the  Emperor 
gave  him  a  long  audience.  A  pasquinade  was  fixed  upon 
the  gate  of  the  lunatic  hospital  at  Vienna,  —  "  Josephus, 
ubicunque  secundas,  hie  primus"  And  now,  after  this  idle 
chit-chat,  good  part  of  which  I  have  written  while  my  hair 
was  dressing,  let  me  tell  you  I  long  to  hear  from   you,  and 

to  hear  you  are  well :  and  so,  with  Mr.  B 's  and  Charles's 

love  to  all,  I  bid  you  adieu. 


172  LIFE   OF   MRS.    BARBAULD.  [Chap.  VIII. 

Among  the  papers  of  Josiah  Wedgwood,  of  Etruria, 
Miss  Meteyard  found  this  little  note  from  Mrs.  Bar- 
bauld.  It  shows  the  domestic  life  and  cares  of  the 
writer,  who  was  evidently  as  good  a  housekeeper  as  she 
was  excellent  in  literary  pursuits. 

Mrs.  Barbauld's  compliments  to  Mr.  Wedgwood,  begs 
the  things  she  bought  may  be  sent  to  ISTo.  8  Caroline  Street, 
Bedford  Square,  to-morrow  morning  by  seven ;  if,  however, 
that  hour  is  too  early,  they  may  be  sent  this  afternoon. 
They  must  be  packed  fit  for  Hampstead. 
Caroline  Street,  March  30, 1787. 

In  the  year  1787,  Mr.  Barbauld,  having  received  a  call 
from  the  Dissenters  of  Hampstead  to  become  their  pas- 
tor, removed  there,  and  this  note  is  an  indication  of 
their  change  of  residence  from  London  to  this  pleasant 
village.  At  that  time  Hampstead  was  a  wild  and  rural 
place,  and  Hampstead  Heath  was  still  noted  as  the 
resort  of  robbers  and  footpads,  who  made  it  exceedingly 
dangerous  for  the  unwary  or  unarmed  traveller  whom 
they  might  meet.  The  village  was  beautifully  situated, 
and  its  close  proximity  to  London  made  it  a  delightful 
residence,  without  destroying  its  rural  attractions.  The 
lover  of  nature  and  society  was  equally  favored  by  an 
abode  there,  for  it  was  the  home  of  many  of  the  culti- 
vated and  literary  people  of  the  day,  and  finely  situated 
near  open  and  pleasant  country.     Its  great  height  and 


1787.]  HAMPSTEAD.  173 

the  view  to  be  obtained  from  the  top  of  the  Heath 
gave  one  a  feeling  of  freedom  and  exhilaration.  Aken- 
side,  writing  to  a  friend  a  few  years  before  this,  dates 
his  letter,  "  From  Hampstead's  Airy  Summit."  Leigh 
Hunt  wrote  several  poems  on  this  rural  and  picturesque 
suburb,  now  greatly  changed  for  the  visitor  of  to-day, 
who  sees  the  famous  Heath  very  much  contracted  by 
the  buildings  which  have  been  placed  close  to  it,  and 
can  hardly  realize  that  the  rapidly  increasing  town  was 
ever  so  wild  and  rustic  in  its  scenery.  Now  it  is  neat, 
and  has  an  air  of  comfort,  but  the  Heath  is  no  longer 
the  deserted  place  it  once  was.  The  following  sonnet 
of  Leigh  Hunt,  describing  Hampstead  as  the  Barbaulds 
knew  it,  was  published  in  the  "Foliage"  in  1818,  a 
small  collection  of  original  and  translated  poems  by 
him. 

1 '  A  steeple  issuing  from  a  leafy  rise, 
With  farmy  fields  in  front,  and  sloping  green, 
Dear  Hampstead,  is  thy  southern  face  serene, 
Silently  smiling  on  approaching  eyes. 
Within,  thine  ever-shifting  looks  surprise, 
Streets,  hills,  and  dells,  trees  overhead  now  seen, 
Now  down  below,  with  smoking  roofs  between,  — 
A  village  revelling  in  varieties. 
Then  northward  what  a  range,  — 
With  heath  and  pond 

Nature's  own  ground  ;  woods  that  let  mansions  through, 
And  cottaged  vales,  with  pillowy  fields  beyond, 
And  clumps  of  darkening  pines,  and  prospects  blue, 


174  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  VIII. 

And  that  clear  path  through  all  where  daily  meet 
Cool  cheeks,  and  brilliant  eyes,  and  morn-elastic  feet." 

To  Dr.  Aikin. 

Hampstead,  September  5,  1787. 
I  am  very  glad  to  be  informed  what  is  the  proper  method 
to  engage  you  to  write  verses,  and  should  enclose  herewith 
an  order  for  a  score  or  two  of  lines,  if  I  thought  the  command 
were  certain  to  be  as  efficacious  as  the  lovely  Anna's. 

"  The  generous  Muse,  whom  harsh  constraint  offends, 
At  Anna's  call  with  ready  homage  bends  ; 
"Well  may  she  claim,  who  gives  poetic  fire, 
For  what  her  lips  command,  her  eyes  inspire." 

Come  va  Vltaliano?  I  have  read  a  volume  of.Goldoni's 
Plays ;  which  are  not  all  worked  up  to  superior  excellence, 
as  you  may  suppose.,  since  he  wrote  sixteen  in  a  season.  Two 
are  taken  from  Pamela;  but  he  has  spoiled  the  story  by 
making  Pamela  turn  out  to  be  the  daughter  of  an  attainted 
Scotch  peer,  without  which  salvo  for  family  pride  he  did  not 
dare  to  make  her  lover  marry  her.  Goldoni's  great  aim  seems 
to  have  been  to  introduce  what  he  calls  comedies  of  charac- 
ter, instead  of  the  pantomime,  and  the  continual  exhibition 
of  harlequin  and  his  cortege,  which  was  supported  only  by 
the  extempore  wit  of  the  actors.  There  is  in  his  Teatro  Com- 
ico  a  critique  which  puts  me  much  in  mind  of  Shakespeare's 
instructions  to  the  players.  It  abounds  with  good  sense,  — 
which  and  a  desire  to  promote  good  manners  seem  in  what 
I  have  read  to  be  his  characteristics.  I  find  by  him  that  the 
prompter  repeats  the  whole  play  before  the  actors. 


1787.]  CORRESPONDENCE.  175 

Our  plot  begins  to  thicken,  as says.     We  have  taken 

into  our  family  for  six  months,  and  perhaps  longer,  a  young 
Spaniard  who  comes  solely  to  learn  English.  We  dined 
with  the  young  man,  his  uncle,  and  another  Spaniard,  who 

is  secretary  to  the  ambassador,  at  Mr.  W 's,  where  there 

was  a  great  mixture  of  languages.  The  secretary,  as  well  as 
French  and  Spanish,  spoke  English  very  well;  the  young 
man,  Spanish  and  French ;  and  the   uncle,  though  he  had 

been  several  years  in  England,  only  Spanish.     As  Mr.  W 

had  told  us  they  were  strict  Catholics,  we  expressed  a  fear 
lest  we  should  not  be  able  to  provide  for  the  youth  agreeably 
on  fast  days  ;  but  he  said,  "  Tout  jour  est  jour  gras  pour 
moi "  ;  to  which  the  uncle  learnedly  added,  —  that  it  was 
not  what  went  into  the  mouth,  but  what  came  out  of  it,  that 
defileth.  As  far  as  we  have  yet  seen  (but  he  has  been  with 
us  only  two  days),  we  find  him  very  well  behaved  and  easy 
in  the  family ;  but  the  great  difficulty  is  to  entertain  him  : 
he  is  quite  a  man,  of  one  or  two  and  twenty,  and  rather  looks 
like  a  Dutchman  than  a  Spaniard.  Did  you  ever  see  seguars, 
—  leaf-tobacco  rolled  up  of  the  length  of  one's  finger,  which 
they   light   and    smoke   without    a   pipe  *?  —  he  uses  them. 

"  And  how  does  Mr.  B bear  that  1 "  say  you  :  0,  he  keeps 

it  snug  in  his  room.  I  would  not  advise  the  boys  to  imitate 
his  accent  in  French,  for  he  pronounces  it  with  a  deep  gut- 
tural.    I  fancy  he  would  speak  Welsh  well. 

It  gave  me  very  great  pleasure  the  other  day  to  see  my 
father's  old  friend,  Dr.  Pulteney,  whom  Dr.  Garthshore 
brought  to  us.     It  is  a  strange  and  mixed  emotion,  however, 


176  LIFE    OF   MRS.    BARBAULD.  [Chap.  VIII. 

which  one  feels  at  sight  of  a  person  one  has  not  seen  for 
twenty  years  or  more.  The  alteration  such  a  space  of  time 
makes  in  both  parties  at  first  gives  a  kind  of  shock  j  —  it  is 
your  friend,  but  your  friend  disguised. 

We  are  making  a  catalogue  of  our  books  ;  and  I  have  left 
a  great  deal  -of  space  under  the  letters  A  and  B  for  our  fu- 
ture publications. 

At  Hampstead  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Barbauld  lived  on 
Church  Row,  in  a  quaint  old  house,  still  standing, 
though  in  a  very  dilapidated  condition.  They  had  a 
very  pleasant  circle  of  friends  and  neighbors  there,  and 
also  visited  in  London.  Near  by,  at  Hackney,  Dr. 
Priestley  and  Mr.  Wakefield  resided,  the  latter  being 
one  of  the  teachers  in  the  Dissenting  college  in  that 
town ;  and  Dr.  Priestley,  who  was  Dr.  Price's  successor 
in  the  chapel  at  Hackney,  lectured  to  the  students  as  a 
labor  of  love.  Dr.  Aikin  at  this  time  was  living  in 
Broad  Street,  London,  and  they  were  able  to  see  much 
of  him  and  his  family,  which  was  mutually  gratifying. 
The  old  Presbyterian  Chapel,  of  which  Mr.  Barbauld 
was  the  minister  from  1787  to  the  year  1802,  is  believed 
to  have  been  established  in  the  reign  of  Charles  II.  by 
one  of  the  ejected  nonconformist  clergymen  whose 
lives  are  recorded  by  Dr.  Calamy.  The  chapel  in  which 
Mr.  Barbauld  preached  is  supposed  to  have  been  the 
second  on  the  site  it  occupied,  and  was  probably  erected 


1788.]  CORRESPONDENCE.  177 

in  the  year  1736,  as  the  first  building  was  becoming 
unfit  for  use.  A  third  and  handsome  edifice  is  now 
placed  there,  and  occupied  by  the  present  congregation, 
under  the  able  and  devoted  pastoral  care  and  preaching 
of  Dr.  Sadler,  the  present  minister.  He  is  well  known 
in  the  literary  world  by  several  excellent  works,  and 
as  the  careful  biographer  and  judicious  editor  of 
the  Diaries  of  Henry  Crabb  Eobinson,  whose  reminis- 
cences have  given  the  world  so  much  that  is  personal 
and  valuable  concerning  many  interesting  and  eminent 
men  and  women.  The  congregation  of  the  chapel  be- 
came Unitarian  at  the  time  of  the  religious  change 
which  carried  many  Presbyterians  into  that  sect,  and 
its  members  are  now  of  that  belief. 

From  Mrs.  Barbauld's  letter  describing  her  first  im- 
pressions about  a  "  seguar,"  evidently  then  a  novelty, 
we  learn  that  they  soon  had  applications  for  scholars, 
and  Mr.  Barbauld  took  some  young  men  as  pupils  into 
his  family.  Mrs.  Barbauld  also  gave  daily  instruction 
to  a  young  lady,  whose  mother  moved  to  Hampstead 
that  she  might  be  near  this  excellent  and  accom- 
plished teacher.  Some  years  later  she  taught  another 
pupil  on  the  same  plan. 

Hampstead,  February,  1788. 
"We  are  waiting  with  great  impatience  for  two  things,  your 
book  and  my  sister,  —  your  child  and  your  wife,  that  is  to 

say , 

8*  L 


178  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  VIII. 

I  have  been  reading  an  old  book,  which  has  given  me  a 
vast  deal  of  entertainment,  —  Father  Herodotus,  the  father 
of  history,  and  the  father  of  lies  too,  "his  enemies  might  say. 
I  take  it  for  granted  the  original  has  many  more  beauties 
than  Littlebury's  humble  translation,  which  I  have  been  pe- 
rusing ;  but,  at  any  rate,  a  translation  of  an  original  author 
gives  you  an  idea  of  the  times  totally  different  from  what 
one  gains  by  a  modern  compilation.  I  am  much  entertained 
in  observing  the  traces  of  truth  in  many  of  his  wildest  fables  ; 
as  where  he  says  it  was  impossible  to  proceed  far  in  Scythia 
on  account  of  vast  quantities  of  feathers  which  fell  from  heav- 
en and  covered  all  the  country. 

"We  are  reading,  too,  Sir  T.  More's  "  Utopia."  He  says 
many  good  things  ;  but  it  wants  a  certain  salt,  which  Swift 
and  others  have  put  into  their  works  of  the  same  nature.  One 
is  surprised  to  see  how  old  certain  complaints  are.  Of  the 
frequent  executions,  for  instance  :  twenty  men,  he  says,  be- 
ing hung  upon  one  gibbet  at  a  time ;  of  arable  land  turned 
to  pasture,  and  deserted  villages  in  consequence. 

I  hope  the  exertions  which  are  now  making  for  the  aboli- 
tion of  the  slave-trade  will  not  prove  all  in  vain.  They  will 
not,  if  the  pleadings  of  eloquence  or  the  cry  of  duty  can  be 
heard.  Many  of  the  most  respectable  and  truly  distinguished 
characters  are  really  busy  about  it,  and  the  press  and  the 
pulpit  are  both  employed ;  so  I  hope  something  must  be 
done.  I  expect  to  be  highly  gratified  in  hearing  Mr.  Hast- 
ings' trial,  for  which  we  are  to  have  tickets  some  day.  This 
impeachment  has  been  the  occasion  of  much  pomp,  much 


1788.]  TRIAL   OF   WARREN   HASTINGS.  179 

eloquence,  and  much  expense ;  and  there,  I  suppose,  it  will 
end.  As  somebody  said,  It  must  be  put  off  for  the  judges 
to  go  their  circuit,  resumed  late,  and  so  it  will  fall  into  the 
summer  amusements. 

In  the  preceding  letter  to  Dr.  Aikin,  the  first  expres- 
sion of  strong  feeling  and  protest  against  the  slave- 
trade  was  uttered  by  Mrs.  Barbauld,  and  the  great 
horror  she  felt  against  it  later  induced  Jier  to  write  her 
spirited  poem  to  Mr.  Wilberforce,  the  champion  of 
freedom  for  the  oppressed  blacks.  She  alludes  to  the 
trial  of  Warren  Hastings,  that  famous  trial  which  drew 
forth  the  eloquence  of  the  greatest  orators  of  the  age, 
who  were  inferior  probably  to  none  of  any  age,  ancient 
or  modern.  This  memorable  trial,  which  lasted  from 
1788  to  1795,  was  conducted  by  England's  ablest  states- 
men and  pleaders;  and  unquestionably  the  eloquence 
of  Burke,  who  headed  the  prosecution,  was  founded  on 
truth  and  outraged  justice,  which  cried  out  for  redress 
at  the  monstrous  cruelty  and  rapacity  shown  by  Hast- 
ings in  his  government  to  the  Begums  of  Oude.  This 
famous  impeachment,  which  began  the  trial,  was  moved 
by  Burke  the  4th  of  April,  1786  ;  and  the  trial  which 
called  forth  so  much  of  power  and  eloquence,  which 
drew  crowds  to  Westminster  Hall  during  the  time 
when,  according  to  Macaulay,  "  the  high  court  of  Par- 
liament was  to  sit,  according  to  forms  handed  down 
from  the  days  of  the  Plantagenets,  on  an  Englishman 


180  LIFE   OF   MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  VIII. 

accused  of  exercising  tyranny  over  the  lord  of  the  holy 
city  of  Benares  and  the  ladies  of  the  princely  house 
of  Oude/'  was  opened  the  17th  of  February,  1788.  All 
London  was  excited  over  it  for  a  time;  but  the  pro- 
tracted length  of  the  trial  rather  wore  out  the  interest 
of  all  but  those  immediately  concerned  in  the  prosecu- 
tion and  defence. 

Hampstead,  May,  1789.* 
I  often  please  my  mind  with  the  sweet  scenes  of  domestic 
happiness  which  you  must  enjoy  :  yourself  in  the  arms  of 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Dixon,  and  your  children  in  yours.  Apropos 
of  the  sweet  children,  I  should  not  be  at  all  alarmed  at 
their  speaking  Norfolk  ;  depend  upon  it,  it  will  be  only  tem- 
porary where  the  parent  does  not  speak  it :  and,  after  all, 
they  should  know  the  language  of  the  country.  I  remember 
when  I  was  in  Lancashire  being  reproved  for  my  affectation 
in  not  speaking  as  the  country  folks  did,  when  in  truth  it 
was  beyond  my  abilities. 

London  is  extremely  full  now  :  the  trial,  the  parliamentary 
business,  and  fetes  and  illuminations,  and  the  Shakespeare 
Gallery  have  all  contributed  to  fill  the  great  hive.  But, 
among  these  various  objects,  none  is  surely  so  interesting  as 
the  noble  effort  making  for  the  abolition  of  the  slave-trade. 
Nothing,  I  think,  for  centuries  past,  has  done  the  nation  so 
much  honor ;  because  it  must  have  proceeded  from  the  most 
liberal  motives,  —  the  purest  love  of  humanity  and  justice. 
The  voice  of  the  negroes  could  not  have  made  itself  heard 

*  To  Mrs.  Beeci-oft.  —  Ed.       - 


1789.]  HER   LIBERAL    SEXTDIEXTS.  181 

but  by  the  ear  of  pity ;  they  might  have  been  oppressed  for 
ages  more  with  impunity,  if  we  had  so  pleased. 

Hampstead,  August,  1789.* 
....  I  do  not  doubt  but  your  attention,  as  well  as  that  of 
every  one  else,  has  been  engaged  lately  by  the  affairs  in 
France.  \Ve  were  much  gratified  a  fortnight  ago  by  seeing 
Lord  Daer,  who  had  been  at  Paris  at  the  beginning  of  the 
commotions,  and  had  seen  the  demolition  of  the  Bastille,  and 
with  hundreds  more  ranged  through  that  till  now  impreg- 
nable castle  of  Giant  Despair.  He  told  us,  that  after  all  the 
prisoners  in  the  common  apartments  had  been  liberated, 
they  heard  for  a  long  time  the  groans  of  a  man  in  one  of  the 
dungeons,  to  which  they  could  not  get  access,  and  were  at 
length  obliged  to  take  him  out  by  making  a  breach  in  the 
wall,  through  which  they  drew  him  out  after  he  had  been 
forty-eight  hours  without  food ;  and  they  could  not  at  last 
find  the  aperture  by  which  he  was  put  into  the  dungeon. 

Every  subject  of  public  interest,  and  all  efforts  in 
"behalf  of  humanity  and  progress,  met  with  the  most 
genuine  enthusiasm  and  a  disinterested  participation 
from  Mrs.  Barbauld.  A  firm  believer  in  the  march  of 
intellect,  the  growth  of  liberal  political  and  religious 
views,  the  progress  and  improvement  of  humanity 
everywhere,  she  never  hesitated  to  speak  for  the 
oppressed  and  unfortunate,  and  make  known  her 
sympathies  and  convictions  at  the  risk  of  uttering  un- 
popular sentiments.     The  thrilling  events  of  the  open- 

*  To  Mrs.  Beecroft.  —  Ed. 


182  LIFE   OF   MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  VIII. 

ing  of  the  French  Eevolution  were  hailed  by  her  as 
well  as  many  others,  who,  prompted  by  their  love  of 
liberty  and  desire  of  freedom,  thought  they  discerned 
in  the  beginning  of  the  demands  for  representation  and 
less  taxation,  and  the  royal  concessions,  a  chance  for 
better  government  and  happier  times  in  France,  not 
dreaming  of  the  license  and  the  horrors  of  the  dema- 
gogues who  committed  such  crimes  in  the  name  of  free- 
dom. Mrs.  Barbauld's  poem  on  "The  General  Rising 
of  the  French  Nation,"  expected  in  1792,  shows  her 
hope  and  anticipation  of  freedom  and  peace  for  this 
unhappy  nation,  destined,  alas  !  to  so  many  struggles, 
and  never  long  at  rest  since  that  period,  —  its  share  of 
the  world's  history  for  the  last  century  being  a  bloody 
and  unfortunate  record.  After  exhorting  the  nation  to 
rise  and  crush  the  despotic  powers  from  without  who 
attempt  its  destruction  and  inthralment,  and  painting 
the  swift  termination  to  the  strife  if  the  country  will 
unite,  and  — 

"  Briareus-like  extend  thy  hands, 
In  millions  pour  thy  generous  bands, 
That  every  hand  may  crash  a  foe  ; 
And  end  a  warfare  by  a  blow." 

Mrs.  Barbauld  concludes -with  the  following  fine  lines  :  — 

"Then  wash  with  sad  repentant  tears 
Each  deed  that  clouds  thy  glory's  page  ; 
Each  frenzied  start  impelled  by  fear, 
Each  transient  burst  of  headlong  rage. 


1789.]  APPEAL  FROM   HER   BROTHER.  183 

1  '  Then  fold  in  thy  relenting  arras 

Thy  wretched  outcasts  where  they  roam  ; 
From  pining  want  and  war's  alarms, 
0  call  the  child  of  misery  home  ! 

"  Then  build  the  tomb,  —  0  not  alone 
Of  him  who  bled  in  Freedom's  cause  ; 
"With  equal  eye  the  martyr  own 
Of  faith  revered  and  ancient  laws. 

"  Then  be  thy  tide  of  glory  staid  ; 
Then  be  thy  conquering  banners  furled  ; 
Obey  the  laws  thyself  hast  made, 
And  rise  the  model  of  the  world  !  " 

Dr.  Aikin  himself  was  extremely  industrious,  and 
felt  anxious  to  see  his  sister  using  her  fine  talents  and 
keen  imagination  constantly.  He  regretted  that  she 
did  not  more  frequently  favor  the  world  with  some 
works  worthy  of  her  reputation  for  genius  and  bril- 
liancy of  thought.  In  the  year  1790,  he  very  warmly 
expressed  himself  to  this  effect,  in  the  following  sonnet 
to  his  sister :  — 

"  Thus  speaks  the  Muse,  and  bends  her  brows  severe  :  — 
Did  I,  Lsetitia,  lend  my  choicest  lays, 
And  crown  thy  youthful  head  with  freshest  bays, 
That  all  the  expectance  of  thy  full-grown  year 
Should  lie  inert  and  fruitless  ?     0  revere 
Those  sacred  gifts  whose  meed  is  deathless  praise, 
Whose  potent  charms  the  enraptured  soul  can  raise 
Far  from  the  vapours  of  this  earthly  sphere  ! 
Seize,  seize  the  lyre  !  resume  the  lofty  strain  ! 


'  184  LIFE   OF  MRS.    BARBAULD.  [Chap.  VIII. 

'T  is  time,  'tis  time  !  hark  how  the  nations  round 

With  jocund  notes  of  liberty  resound,  — 

And  thy  own  Corsica  has  burst  her  chain  ! 

0  let  the  song  to  Britain's  shores  rebound, 

Where  Freedom's  once-loved  voice  is  heard,  alas  !  in  vain." 

September,  1790. 
My  dear  Mrs.  Beecroft,  —  It  is  but  lately  that  I  heard 
you  were  returned  from  your  delightful  expedition,  or  I 
should  have  written  sooner ;  for  I  am  sure  so  kind  and 
charming  a  letter  as  yours  demanded  an  early  acknowledg- 
ment. I  do  not  say  T  envy  you  your  party  and  your  tour, 
because  I  have  in  some  measure  enjoyed  it  along  with  you. 
I  have  tracked  you  to  the  top  of  Skiddaw,  seen  you  impress 
the  mountains  with  your  light  and  nymph-like  step,  and 
skim  over  the  lakes  with  a  rapid  and  smooth  motion,  like  a 
bird  that  just  touches  them  with  her  wing  without  dipping 
it.  I  have  contemplated  the  effect  such  scenes  must  pro- 
duce on  minds  so  turned  to  admire  the  beauties  of  nature  as 
yours  and  your  poetical  companions'  ;  and  I  have  watched 
till  imagination  has  kindled,  and  beauty  has  swelled  into 
sublimity.  Indeed,  independently  of  scenes  so  wildly  pic- 
turesque, a  journey  is  the  most  favorable  thing  in  the  world 
for  the  imagination  ;  which,  like  a  wheel,  kindles  with  the 
motion  :  I  shall  therefore  certainly  expect  it  to  produce  some 
fruit. 

I  suppose  you  are  now  returned  to  your  course  of  instruc- 
tive reading,  and  your  sweet  employment  of  instructing  your 
little   charge.     Pray,  have   you   seen  Sacontala,  an  Indian 


1790.]  CORRESPONDENCE.  185 

drama  translated  by  Sir  "William  Jones  1  You  will  be  much 
pleased  with  it.  There  is  much  fancy  and  much  sentiment 
in  it,  —  much  poetry  too,  and  mythology  :  but  these,  though 
full  of  beauties,  are  often  uncouth  and  harsh  to  the  European 
ear.  The  language  of  nature  and  the  passions  is  of  all 
countries.  The  hero  of  the  piece  is  as  delicate  and  tender  a 
lover  as  any  that  can  be  met  with  in  the  pages  of  a  modern 
romance  •;  for  I  hope  you  can  pardon  him  a  little  circum- 
stance relative  to  the  costume  of  the  country,  which  is  just 
hinted  at  in  the  poem  :  I  mean  the  having  a  hundred  wives 
besides  the  mistress  of  his  heart.  So  much  for  works  of  en- 
tertainment !  There  is  a  publication  of  higher  merit  set  on 
foot  in  France  by  Eabaut  St.  Etienne  and  some  others,  — 
La  Feuille  Villageoise,  of  which  I  have  seen  the  first  number. 
The  respectable  object  of  it  is  to  instruct  the  country  people 
(who  are  there  remarkably  ignorant)  in  morals,  in  the  new 
laws  and  constitution  of  their  country,  in  the  state  of  the 
arts  and  new  discoveries  as  far  as  can  be  of  practical  use  to 
them,  and,  in  short,  to  "open  their  minds  and  make  them 
love  their  duties.  M.  Berquin  is  engaged  in  something 
similar ;  but  this  is  more  extensive.  There  is  room  for  all 
true  patriots  to  exert  themselves  in  every  way  in  France, 
for  their  situation  seems  still  but  too  precarious. 

Mrs.  Barbauld  was  sensibly  affected  by  the  animated 
sonnet  of  Dr.  Aikin,  and  also  much  excited  to  thought 
and  composition  by  the  inspiring  events  of  the  period, — 
soon,  unfortunately,  to  be  turned  into  scenes  of  carnage, 


186  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.     .        [Chap.  VIII. 

domestic  strife,  and  war  involving  all  Europe  in  its 
general  results.  Hope,  roused  by  the  spirit  of  freedom, 
which  appeared  to  animate  the  French  in  the  beginning 
of  the  straggle  for  liberty,  was  soon  destroyed  by  the 
horrible  events  of  the  Revolution.,  and  the  crimes  com- 
mitted in  the  name  of  liberty  made  it  almost  worse 
than  tyranny  in  its  manifestations.  In  the  year  1790, 
the  rejection  of  the  bill  for  the  repeal  of  the  Corpora- 
tion and  Test  Acts  produced  her  indignantly  eloquent 
and  impressive  Address  to  the  opposers  of  the  repeal. 
This  Act  was  one  made  in  the  reign  of  Charles  II., 
and  by  one  clause  of  it  all  persons  before  admission 
into  any  office  in  corporations,  or  the  acceptance  of  any 
position,  civil  or  military,  under  the  crown,  were  obliged 
to  receive  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper  accord- 
ing to  the  forms  and  custom  of  the  Church  of  England. 
Already  the  movement  for  a  repeal  had  been  agitated 
by  the  Dissenters  in  the  year  1730,  but  the  Whig 
leaders,  fearing  it  would  break  their  party,  managed  by 
the  adroitness  of  Sir  Robert  Walpole  to  avert  the 
attempt,  though  Dr.  Hoadly,  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  said 
he  had  so  often  given  his  opinion  as  to  "  the  unreason- 
ableness of  these  laws  in  a  social  light,  and  the  profane- 
ness  of  them  theologically  considered,"  that  he  must 
support  the  repeal  of  them  if  the  measure  was  intro- 
duced. In  this  feeling  many  churchmen  joined  him; 
but,  according  to  Lord  Hervey's  "  Memoirs,"  the  queen 


1790.]  THE   CORPORATION   AND   TEST  ACTS.  187 

was  persuaded  to  send  for  the  Bishop,  and  use  her  in- 
fluence to  quiet  his  conscientious  scruples  by  telling 
him  that  "  all  times  were  not  proper  to  do  proper 
things."  That  time  the  measure  was  avoided,  though 
with  some  murmurings  from  the  Dissenters.  Again 
they  moved  to  have  the  unjust  laws  abolished  in  1789, 
and  again  it  was  Rejected,  being  felt  by  many  of  the 
most  liberal  of  the  Whig  party  to  be  revolutionary  and 
dangerous,  as  the  tendency  of  the  French  Be  volution 
had  been  to  introduce  violence  and  agitation  in  English 
affairs.  Fox  proposed  the  abolition  of  these  religious 
tests  ;  Pitt  opposed  the  motion ;  and  Edmund  Burke 
stated  that,  had  the  repeal  been  moved  for  ten  years 
before  that  time,  he  should  probably  have  supported 
Mr.  Fox  in  his  position,  but  he  had  many  strong  reasons 
for  believing  that  many  of  the  persons  calling  them- 
selves Dissenters  were  men  of  factious  and  revolution- 
ary dispositions,  and  unmoved  by  any  motives  of 
religion  or  conscience.  The  bill  was  rejected  by  a  very 
large  majority,  and  not  until  1828  did  the  measure 
pass,  being  then  opposed,  says  Sir  Robert  Peel  in  his 
"Memoirs,"  "with  all  the  influence  and  authority  of 
the  government  recently  appointed."  Lord  Eldon 
vainly  described  this  bill  to  be  "  as  bad,  as  mischievous, 
and  as  revolutionary  as  the  most  captious  Dissenter 
could  wish  it  to  be."  It  was  followed  by  similar  con- 
cessions to  the  Roman  Catholics  in  ensuing  years. 


188  LIFE  OF  MRS.   BAEBAULD.  [Chap.  IX. 


CHAPTEK    IX. 

Mrs.  Barbauld's  "Poetical  Epistle"  to  William  Wilberforce. — 
Horace  Walpole's  Remarks  on  Mrs.  Barbauld.  —  Letters.  —  Dr. 
Johnson's  Character.  —Mrs.  Barbauld's  "Reply"  to  Mr.  Wake- 
field's Pamphlet  on  Worship.  —  She  visits  Scotland.  —  Various 
Impressions  of  the  Highlands.  —  Mrs.  Barbauld  writes  Essays 
on  Akenside's  "Pleasures  of  the  Imagination,"  and  on  Col- 
lins's  Odes.  —  Meets  General  Paoli.  —  Letters. 

THE  "  Poetical  Epistle  to  William  Wilberforce  on 
the  Eejection  of  the  Bill  for  Abolishing  the  Slave- 
Trade"  appeared  in  1791.  It  was  true,  too  true,  in  its 
descriptions  of  the  horrors  of  slavery,  and  of  course 
roused  the  fury  of  those  who  upheld  the  iniquitous 
trade.     Mrs.  Barbauld  begins  her  poern,  — 

"Cease,  Wilberforce,  to  urge  thy  generous  aim  ! 
Thy  Country  knows  the  sin,  and  stands  the  shame  ! 
The  Preacher,  Poet,  Senator  in  vain 
Has  rattled  in  her  sight  the  Negro's  chain  ; 
With  his  deep  groans  assailed  her  startled  ear, 
And  rent  the  veil  that  hid  his  constant  tear  ; 
Forced  her  averted  eyes  his  stripes  to  scan, 
Beneath  the  bloody  scourge  laid  bare  the  man, 
Claimed  Pity's  tear,  urged  Conscience'  strong  control, 
And  flashed  conviction  on  her  shrinking  soul." 


1790.]  AXTISLAYERY   ZEAL.  189 

The  influence  of  the  best  and  wisest  sons  and  daughters 
of  Great  Britain  had  been  used  by  them  to  excite  the 
interest  and  move  the  sympathy  of  the  nation  about 
the  sufferings  of  the  blacks  ;  but  the  time  was  not  come 
for  the  abolition  of  this  terrible  traffic,  which  has  in- 
volved so  many  souls  in  crime  and  produced  such 
misery  for  humanity. 

"In  vain,  to  thy  white  standard  gathering  round, 
Wit,  Worth,  and  Parts  and  Eloquence  are  found  : 
In  vain,  to  push  to  birth  thy  great  design, 
Contending  chiefs,  and  hostile  virtues  join  ; 
All,  from  conflicting  ranks,  of  power  possest  — 
To  rouse,  to  melt,  or  to  inform  the  breast. 
"When  seasoned  tools  of  Avarice  prevail, 
A  Nation's  eloquence,  combined,  must  fail  : 
Each  flimsy  sophistry  by  turns  they  try  ; 
The  plausive  argument,  the  daring  lie, 
The  artful  gloss,  that  moral  sense  confounds, 
Th'  acknowledged  thirst  of  gain  that  honor  wounds  ; 
Bane  of  ingenuous  minds  !  —  the  'unfeeling  sneer, 
Which  sudden  turns  to  stone  the  falling  tear  : 
They  search  assiduous,  with  inverted  skill, 
For  forms  of  wrong,  and  precedents  of  ill ; 
"With  impious  mockery  wrest  the  sacred  page, 
And  glean  up  crimes  from  each  remoter  age." 

Mrs.  Barbauld  then  describes  the  baleful  effects  of 
slavery  on  its  votaries,  and  how,  — 

"  Injured  Afric,  by  herself  redrest, 
Darts  her  own  serpents  at  her  tyrant's  breast. 


190  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  IX. 

Each  vice,  to  minds  depraved  by  bondage  known, 
"With  sure  contagion  fastens  on  his  own  ; 
In  sickly  languors' melts  his  nerveless  frame, 
And  blows  to  rage  impetuous  Passion's  flame." 

She  paints  a  picture  of  the  domestic  tyranny  which 
is  known  to  have  been  common  in  West  Indian  house- 
holds, — 

"  Lo  !  where  reclined,  pale  Beauty  courts  the  breeze, 
Diffused  on  sofas  of  voluptuous  ease, 
With  anxious  awe  her  menial  train  around 
Catch  her  faint  whispers  of  half-uttered  sound  ; 
See  her,  in  monstrous  fellowship,  unite 
At  once  the  Scythian  and  the  Sybarite  !  — 
See  her,  with  indolence  to  fierceness  joined, 
Of  body  delicate,  infirm  of  mind, 
With  languid  tones  imperious  mandates  urge  ; 
With  arm  recumbent  wield  the  household  scourge  ; 
And  with  unruffled  mien,  and  placid  sounds, 
Contriving  torture,  and  inflicting  wounds." 

A  trustworthy  writer,  an  eyewitness  of  some  of 
these  terrible  scenes,  describes  one  where  a  fair  and 
delicate  lady  was  reclining  at  her  ease,  while  her  fa- 
vorite handmaidens  unpacked  a  trunk  of  new  and 
beautiful  costumes,  just  arrived  by  a  ship  from  Eng- 
land ;  a  nail  which  unseen  protruded  from  the  edge 
caught  and  tore  one  of  the  frail  and  gauzy  fabrics  worn 
in  that  sultry  country,  the  product  of  some  Indian 
loom.  The  indignant  and  furious  mistress,  not  of 
her  temper,  but   of  the  unfortunate   slave,  —  instantly 


1790.]  POEM  AGAINST  SLAVERY.  191 

had  her  severely  whipped  for  her  carelessness.  The 
cruel  treatment  of  these  masters  and  mistresses  brought 
at  last  a  terrible  retribution,  when  the  slaves  rose  and 
in  their  turn  inflicted  tortures  and  death,  which  they 
thought  only  a  just  return  for  long  years  of  suffering. 

In  vain,  the  poet  says,  are  all  the  humane  arguments 
and  efforts  for  the  cause  of  the  negro,  and  youth  and 
beauty  lose  their  softness  and  tender  humanity  under 
the  hardening  influence  of  slavery. 

"And  anxious  Freedom  eyes  her  drooping  fires  ; 
By  foreign  wealth  are  British  morals  changed, 
And  Afric's  sons,  and  India's,  smile  avenged. 

"  For  you,  whose  tempered  ardor  long  has  borne 
[Jntired  the  labor,  and  unmoved  the  scorn  ; 
In  Virtue's  fasti  be  inscribed  your  fame, 
And  uttered  yours  with  Howard's  honored  name  ; 
Friends  of  the  friendless  —    Hail,  ye  generous  band  ! 
Whose  efforts  yet  arrest  Heaven's  lifted  hand, 
Around  whose  steady  brows,  in  union  bright, 
The  civic  wreath  and  Christian's  palm  unite  : 
Your  merit  stands,  no  greater  and  no  less, 
Without  or  with  the  varnish  of  success  : 
But  seek  no  more  to  break  a  nation's  fall, 
For  ye  have  saved  yourselves,  —  and  that  is  all. 
Succeeding  times  your  struggles,  and  their  fate, 
With  mingled  shame  and  triumph  shall  relate  ; 
While  faithful  History,  in  her  various  page, 
Marking  the  features  of  this  motley  age, 
To  shed  a  glory,  and  to  fix  a  stain, 
Tells  how  you  strove,  and  that  you  strove  in  vain." 


192  LIFE   OF   MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  IX. 

Horace  Walpole,  the  connoisseur,  collector,  and  patron 
of  letters,  the  holder  of  several  sinecure  places  of  value 
under  government,  the  cynical  and  bitter  writer  of  let- 
ters which  are  full  of  severe  comments  on  society  and  ' 
his  acquaintances,  inveighs  violently  against  Mrs.  Bar- 
bauld.  We  see  in-  him,  as  a  representative  of  the  gov-" 
eminent  party,  something  of  the  spirit  which  was  felt 
in  their  ranks  against  the  outspoken  sentiments  of 
liberal  thought.  He  wrote,  in  1791,  to  one  friend : 
"  Not  a  jot  on  Deborah  ....  (Mrs.  Barbauld),  whom 
you  admire :  I  have  neither  read  her  verses,  nor  will,  as 
I  have  not  your  aspen  conscience.  I  cannot  forgive  the 
heart  of  a  woman  that  is  party  per  pale  blood  and 
tenderness,  that  curses  our  clergy  and  feels  for  ne- 
groes." In  writing  Miss  Hannah  More  in  the  same 
year,  he  alludes  again  to  the  "Epistle  "  to  Wilberforce, 
and  tells  Miss  More  that  her  poem  on  slavery,  then 
lately  published,  differs  widely  from  that  of  her  friend, 
to  whom  he  evidently  felt  the  very  strongest  dislike 
as  one  of  the  opposition  party.  "  Deborah  may  cant 
rhymes  of  compassion,  —  she  is  a  hypocrite  ;  and  you 
shall  not  make  me  read,  nor  with  all  your  sympathy 
and  candor  can  you  esteem  her.  Your  compassion  for 
the  blacks  is  genuine,  sincere  from  your  soul,  most 
amiable  :  hers,  a  measure  of  faction." 

In  a  letter  to  Miss  Berry,  in  1791,  Walpole  tells  her 
of  a  meeting  which  was  held  at  the  Crown  and  Anchor 


1790.]  HORACE   WALPOLE'S    VIRULENCE.  193 

Tavern  in  the  Strand,  for  the  purpose  of  eelebrating  the 
anniversary  of  the  French  Eevolution.  He  uses  much 
abusive  and  ungentlemanly  language  about  the  people 
who  were  expected  to  meet  there,  and  speaks  of  Mrs. 
Barbauld  and  Miss  Helen  Maria  Williams  as  Deborah 
and  Jael,  and  of  the  rioters  arrested  for  some  offensive 
demonstrations  elsewhere  says,  "  Eleven  of  these  dis- 
ciples of  Paine  are  in  custody,  and  Mr.  Merry,  Mrs.  Bar- 
bauld, and  Helen  Williams  will  probably  have  subjects 
for  elegies.  Deborah  and  Jael,  I  believe,  were  invited 
to  the  Crown  and  Anchor,  and  had  let  their  nails  grow 
accordingly ;  but  somehow  or  other  no  poissonnieres 
were  there,  and  the  prophetesses  had  no  opportunity 
that  day  of  exercising  their  talents  or  talons."  In  a 
letter  in  the  previous  year,  after  Mrs.  Barbauld's 
pamphlet  containing  the  address  to  the  opposers  of  the 
Corporation  and  Test  Acts  had  appeared,  he  wrote  to 
Miss  Berry,  then  on  the  Continent,  and  in  mentioning 
to  her  Burke's  new  book,  just  then  published,  "  Eeflec- 
tions  on  the  French  Eevolution,"  adds,  "  His  foes  show 
how  deeply  they  are  wounded  by  their  abusive  pam- 
phlets." He  numbers  among  the  opponents  of  Burke, 
M rs.  Macaulay  "  and  the-  virago  Barbauld,  whom  Mr. 
Burke  calls  our  Poissardes,  who  "spit  their  rage  at 
eighteen-pence  a  head."  Walpole's  virulence  and  mal- 
ice were  so  evident  in  his  letters,  that  even  the  testi- 
mony of  Miss   Berry,   who  combated  the   opinion   of 

9  M 


194  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  IX. 

Lord  Macaulay  as  one  well  acquainted  with  the  best  facts 
of  his  character,  —  knowledge,  she  says,  which  was  "  ac- 
quired by  long  intimacy,"  —  was  powerless  to  remove  the 
impression  caused  by  his  own  words,  which  were  com- 
mented on  by  Macaulay  as  showing  the  cynical  and 
bitter  nature  of  the  man.  These  expressions  of  party 
feeling,  however,  show  plainly  that,  though  Mrs.  Bar- 
bauld  may  have  been  disliked  as  one  who  held  and 
expressed  liberal,  perhaps  radical,  opinions,  she  was  yet 
dreaded  as  a  powerful  and  influential  champion  of  free- 
dom of  thought,  of  progress,  and  of  humanity.  The 
talents  and  brilliancy  which  they  would  have  welcomed 
to  their  own  cause  as  a  great  acquisition  of  strength 
and  power,  the  Tories  and  more  conservative  members 
of  the  opposition  dreaded,  and  would  fain  have  de- 
spised. 

To   Dr.  Aiken. 

Hampstead,  May,  1791. 

What  do  you  say  to  Pitt  and  Fox  agreeing  so  well  about 
the  affair  of  libels  1  Is  there  anything  behind  the  curtain  i 
I  hope  not ;  for  I  own  I  have  felt  myself  much  interested 
for  Fox  since  his  noble  and  manly  behavior,  mixed  with  so 
much  sensibility  and  tempered  with  so  much  forbearance  to- 
wards Burke.  It  puts  one  in  mind  of  the  quarrel  between 
Brutus  and  Cassius. 

I  am  reading  with  a  great  deal  of  interest  Bamsay's  "  His- 
tory of  the  American  Be  volution  " ;  and  I  do  not  wonder  that 
the  old  story  of  Greece  and  Borne  grows,  as  you  say,  flat, 


1791.]  HER   OPINION   OF   DR.   JOHNSON.  195 

when  we  have  events  of  such  importance  passing  before  our 
eyes,  and  from  thence  acquiring  a  warmth  of  color  and  au- 
thenticity which  it  is  in  vain  to  seek  for  in  histories  that 
have  passed  from  hand  to  hand  through  a  series  of  ages. 
How  uniformly  great  was  Congress,  and  what  a  spotless 
character  Washington !  All  their  public  acts,  etc.,  are  re- 
markably well  drawn  up.  We  are  reading  in  idle  moments^ 
or  rather  dipping  into,  a  very  different  work,  Bos  well's  long- 
expected  "  Life  of  Johnson."  It  is  like  going  to  Ranelagh  ; 
you  meet  all  your  acquaintance  :  but  it  is  a  base  and  mean 
thing  to  bring  thus  every  idle  word  into  judgment,  —  the 
judgment  of  the  public.  Johnson,  I  think,  was  far  from  a 
great  character  ;  he  was  continually  sinning  against  his  con- 
science, and  then  afraid  of  going  to  hell  for  it.  A  Christian 
and  a  man  of  the  town,  a  philosopher  and  a,  bigot,  acknowl- 
edging life  to  be  miserable,  and  making  it  more  miserable 
through  fear  of  death  ;  professing  great  distaste  to  the  coun- 
try, and  neglecting  the  urbanity  of  towns  ;  a  Jacobite,  and 
pensioned  ;  acknowledged  to  be  a  giant  in  literature,  and  yet 
we  do  not  trace  him,  as  we  do  Locke,  or  Eousseau,  or  Vol- 
taire, in  his  influence  on  the  opinions  of  the  times.  We  can- 
not say  Johnson  first  opened  this  vein  of  thought,  led  the 
way  to  this  discovery  or  this  turn  of  thinking.  In  his  style 
he  is  original,  and  there  we  can  track  his  imitators.  In 
short,  he  seems  to  me  to  be  one  of  those  who  have  shone  in 
the  belles  lettres,  rather  than,  what  he  is  held  out  by  many  to 
be,  an  original  and  deep  genius  in  investigation. 

In  this  letter  Mrs.   Barbauld,  commenting  on   the 


196  LIFE   OF   MRS.    BARBAULD.  [Chap.  IX. 

"Life  of  Johnson  "  just  then  published,  blames  that  news- 
monger and  gossip,  Boswell,  not  unreasonably,  for  the 
ill-judged  personalities  and  trivial  scraps  of  talk  with 
which  he  crowded  the  biography  of  his  friend,  other- 
wise a  valuable  and  extraordinary  piece  of  work.  Dr. 
Aikin,  in  alluding  to  Dr.  Johnson  at  this  time,  when 
the  Life  had  caused  his  character  and  peculiarities  to  be 
much  discussed,  wrote  of  him  as  follows :  "  He  had 
not,  indeed,  a  grain  of  the  noble  enthusiasm,  the  calm 
simplicity,  the  elevated  purpose,  of  a  great  man.  His 
temper,  habits,  and  system  equally  disqualified  him 
from  attaining  that  character.  He  was  able  with  great 
accuracy  to  compare  every  literary  and  moral  idea  with 
the  standards  in  his  own  mind,  and  to  detect  all  false 
pretensions  within  his  own  compass.  But  there  were 
heights  in  both  to  which  he  could  not  ascend.  ■  His  life 
fell  far  short  of  his  writings,  and  his  faults  and  asper- 
ities were  rather  aggravated  than  softened  by  age." 
Dr.  Aikin  evidently  had  a  strong  desire  to  reduce  some 
of  the  blind  admiration  for  Dr.  Johnson  which  was  felt 
in  a  certain  circle  before  the  Life  appeared,  and  so  ex- 
pressed himself  frequently.  In  the  following  letter  to 
her  friend  Mrs.  Beecroft,  Mrs.  Barbauld  contrasts  the  life 
of  Mirabeau,  whose  eloge  she  had  been  reading,  and 
that  of  Dr.  Price,  minister  of  the  Dissenting  Chapel  at 
Newington  Green,  a  man  noted  for  his  Christian  virtues 
and  fine  character.     Dr.  Priestley,  who  succeeded  him 


1791.]  MIRABEAU   AXD   DR.    PRICE.  197 

in  the  chapel  at  Hackney,  preached  his  funeral  dis- 
course. Mr.  Barbauld  a  few  years  later  was  called  to 
fill  Dr.  Price's  place  at  Newington 

Hampstead,  May  7,  1791. 

....  You  ought,  I  think,  to  come  to  London  every 
spring,  to  peep  into  the  Exhibition  and  Shakespeare  Gallery, 
and  to  see  our  proud  metropolis  when  she  adorns  her  head 
with  wreaths  of  early  roses,  and  perfumes  her  crowded  streets 
with  all  the  first  scents  of  the  spring.  So  uncommonly  fine 
has  the  weather  been  this  year,  thatin  March,  if  you  were 
in  a  flower-shop,  you  might  have  imagined  it  the  glowing 
month  of  June. 

I  last  Sunday  attended  with  melancholy  satisfaction  the 
funeral  sermon  of  good  Dr.  Price,  preached  by  Dr.  Priestley, 
who,  as  he  told  us,  had  been  thirty  years  his  acquaintance, 
and  twenty  years  his  intimate  friend.  He  well  delineated 
the  character  he  so  well  knew.  I  had  just  been  reading  an 
eloge  of  Mirabeau,  and  I  could  not  help  in  my  own  mind 
comparing  both  the  men  and  the  tributes  paid  to  their  memo- 
ries. The  one  died  when  a  reputation  raised  suddenly  by 
extraordinary  emergencies  was  at  its  height,  and  very  pos- 
sibly might  have  ebbed  again  had  he  lived  longer  :  the  other 
enjoyed  an  esteem,  the  fruit  of  a  course  of  labors  uniformly 
directed  through  a  long  life  to  the  advancement  of  knowledge 
and  virtue,  a  reputation  slowly  raised,  without  and  indepen- 
dent of  popular  talents.  The  panegyrist  of  the  one  was  obliged 
to  sink  his  private  life,  and  to  cover  with  the  splendid  mantle 


198  LIFE   OF  MRS.    BARBAULD.  [Chap.  IX. 

of  public  merit  the  crimes  and  failings  of  the  man  :  the 
private  character  of  the  other  was  able  to  bear  the  severest 
scrutiny ;  neither  slander,  nor  envy,  nor  party  prejudice,  ever 
pretended  to  find  a  spot  in  it.  The  one  was  followed  even 
by  those  who  did  not  trust  him :  the  other  was  confided  in 
and  trusted  even  by  those  who  reprobated  his  principles.  In 
pronouncing  the  eloge  on  Mirabeau,  the  author  scarcely  dares 
to  insinuate  a  vague  and  uncertain  hope  that  his  spirit  may 
hover  somewhere  in  the  void  space  of  immensity,  be  re-joined 
to  the  first  principles  of  nature ;  and  attempts  to  soothe  his 
shade  with  a  cold  and  barren  immortality  in  the  remembrance 
of  posterity.  Dr.  Priestley  parts  with  his  intimate  friend  with 
all  the  cheerfulness  which  an  assured  hope  of  meeting  him 
soon  again  could  give,  and  at  once  dries  the  tear  he  excites. 

To  Dr.  Aikin. 

Hampstead,  1791. 

....  I  do  not  know  whether  I  said  so  before,  but  I  cannot 
help  thinking  that  the  Eevolution  in  France  will  introduce 
there  an  entire  revolution  in  education,  and  particularly  be 
the  ruin  of  classical  learning,  the  importance  of  which  must 
be  lessening  every  day  ;  while  other  sciences,  -  particularly 
that  of  politics  and  government,  must  rise  in  value,  afford 
an  immediate  introduction  to  active  life,  and  be  necessary 
in  some  degree  to  everybody.  All  the  kindred  studies  of 
the  cloister  must  sink,  and  we  shall  live  no  longer  on  the 
lean  relics  of  antiquity. 

Apropos  of  France,  Mrs.  Montague,  who  entertains  all  the 


1791.]  AN   AMERICAN   POEM.  199 

aristocrats,  had  invited  a  marchioness  of  Boufflers  and  her 
daughter  to  dinner.  After  making  her  wait  till  six,  the  mar- 
chioness came,  and  made  an  apology  for  her  daughter,  that 
just  as  she  was  going  to  dress  she  was  seized  with  a  degout 
momentanee  du  monde,  and  could  not  wait  on  her. 

There  is  a  little  Frenchman  here  at  Hampstead  who  is 
learning  the  language,  and  he  told  us  he  had  been  making 
an  attempt  at  some  English  verses.  "  I  have  made,"  says 
he,  "  four  couplets  in  masculine  and  feminine  rimes."  "  0 
sir,"  says  I,  "  you  have  given  yourself  needless  trouble  ;  we 
do  not  use  them."  ."  Why,  how  so  ? "  says  he  ;  "  have  you  no 
rules,  then,  for  your  verse  ]  "  "  Yes,  sir ;  but  we  do  not  use 
masculine  and  feminine  rimes."  Well,  I  could  not  make  him 
comprehend  there  could  be  any  regular  poetry  without  these 
rimes. 

Mr,  Brand  Hollis  has  sent  me  an  American  poem,  "  The 
Conquest  of  Canaan,"  —  a  regular  epic  in  twelve  books  ;  but 
I  hope  I  need  not  read  it.  Kot  that  the  poetry  is  bad,  if  the 
subject  were  more  interesting.  What  had  he  to  do  to  make 
Joshua  his  hero,  when  he  had  Washington  of  his  own 
growth  ] 

We  are  at  present  reading  Anacharsis,  and  are  much 
pleased  with  it.  There  is  nothing  of  adventure,  nothing 
like  a  novel ;  but  the  various  circumstances  relating  to  the 
Greeks  are  classed  and  thrown  together  in  such  a  manner  as 
to  dwell  on  the  mind.  It  has  just  the  effect  which  it  would 
have  if  in  the  Museum,  instead  of  being  shown  separately 
the  arms  and   dresses  of  different  nations,  you  had  figures 


200  LIFE   OF   MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  IX. 

dressed  up  and  accoutred  in  them  :  the  Otaheitan  mourner 
walking  to  a  moral ;  the  warrior  full  armed  in  the  attitude 
of  attack  ;  and  the  priest  with  all  the  various  instruments 
of  sacrifice  before  the  altar.  Thus  they  become  grouped  in 
the  mind. 

I  want  you  to  propose  a  metaphysical  question  to  your  so- 
ciety, which  Mr.  B and  I  have  had  great  debates  upon  ; 

and  I  want  to  know  your  opinion  and  my  sister's.  It  is 
this  :  If  you  were  now  told  that  in  a  future  state  of  existence 
you  should  be  entirely  deprived  of  your  consciousness,  so 
as  not  to  be  sensible  you  were  the  same  being  who  existed 
here,  —  should  you  of  should  you  not  be  now  interested  in 
your  future  happiness  or  misery  1  or,  in  other  words,  Is  con- 
tinued consciousness  the  essence  of  identity  1 

In  the  year  1792  appeared  Mrs.  Barbauld's  "Remarks 
on  Mr.  Gilbert  Wakefield's  Inquiry  into  the  Expedi- 
ency and  Propriety  of  Public  or  Social  Worship."  This 
pamphlet  of  Mrs.  Barbauld's  was  designed  to  correct 
what  she  and  many  others  thought  a  dangerous  and 
irreligious  view  of  worship.  His  "  Inquiry "  was  an- 
swered chiefly,  by  Dissenters,  and  it  startled  many  of  his 
warmest  admirers.  It  was  a  serious  injury  to  himself, 
for  Dr.  Aikin  states  that  the  sentiments  he  expressed 
therein  caused  him  to  lose  one  of  his  two  pupils,  —  a 
loss  he  could  ill  afford.  Miss  Aikin,  in  a  letter  written 
many  years  after  the  "Reply,"  mentions  her  aunt's 
criticism  on  Mr.  Wakefield's  "  Inquiry,"  and  says  that 


1792-]  "evenings  at  home."  201 

she  thinks  that  Mrs.  Barbauld  misunderstood  the  views 
of  the  writer  of  the  "  Inquiry/'  and  her  "  Keply  "  was 
made  under  a  mistaken  idea  of  Mr.  Wakefield's  sen- 
timents. There  is  not  much  question  as  to  Mrs.  Bar- 
bauld's  comprehension  of  what  Mr.  Wakefield  said.  In 
common  with  many  others,  she  was  surprised  and  dis- 
tressed by  his  "  Inquiry  "  ;  and  her  "  Beply,"  which  was 
characterized  by  her  usual  strength  of  thought  and 
beauty  of  language,  was  made  to  his  expression  of 
radical  and  startling  sentiments.  She  answered  what 
he  said,  not  with  a  critical  spirit,  but  feeling  a  natural 
desire  to  correct  some  of  his  statements. 

Her  Discourse  for  the  Fast,  entitled  "  Sins  of  the 
Government,  Sins  of  the  Nation,"  was  published  in  1793. 

At  this  time  Mrs.  Barbauld  contributed  some  of  the 
stories  and  allegories  which  formed  a  part  of  Dr.  Aikin's 
book,  "  Evenings  at  Home,"  which  appeared  in  1792. 
This  work  was,  as  previously  stated,  for  the  most  part 
from  the  hand  of  Dr.  Aikin,  but  his  sister's  share  con- 
sisted of  several  charming  tales  and  other  pieces.  Of 
the  ninety-nine  pieces  which  make  up  the  work,  four- 
teen were  her  productions.  In  the  following  letter  to 
Mrs.  Beecroft,  she  thanks  her  for  her  kind  invitation  to 
Mr.  Barbauld,  while  she  was  away  in  Scotland,  and  she 
then  describes  to  her  friend  her  visit  to  the  A 

"  Land  of  brown  heath  and  shaggy  wood  ; 
Land  of  the  mountain  and  the  flood." 
0* 


202  LIFE   OF   MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  IX. 

Mrs.  Barbauld's  poetic  eye  and  taste  for  the  wild  and 
picturesque  was  much  gratified  by  her  visit  to  Scotland. 
Of  it  she  writes,  "It  is  a  country  strongly  marked 
with  character.  Its  rocks,'  its  woods,  its  water,  its 
castles,  its  towns,  are  all  picturesque,  generally  grand." 
One  Captain  Bent  was  among  the  first  Englishmen  to 
explore  the  Highlands  of  Scotland,  and  he  wrote  an 
account  of  his  wanderings,  in  which  he  pronounced  the 
mountains  hideous  with  their  gloomy  masses  of  brown 
and  dirty  purple  heather.  A  taste  for  the  wild  and 
picturesque  was  not  then  cultivated.  He  contrasts  the 
terrible  gloom  and  deformity  which  he  considers  are 
the  chief  features  of  the  country  with  the  beauty  of 
Eichmond  Hill ;  tame  and  insipid  we  should  now  judge 
it  to  be  in  comparison. 

Another  traveller,  a  man  who  should  have  seen 
beauties  where  ordinary  minds  might  fail  to  observe 
them,  —  Oliver  Goldsmith,  —  explored  the  wild  and 
almost  unknown  scenery  of  the  Highlands  in  1753. 
In  a  letter  to  Bryanton,  Edinburgh,  September  26, 
he  writes :  "  Shall  I  tire  you  with  a  description  of 
this  unfruitful  country,  where  I  must  lead  you  over 
their  hills  all  brown  with  heath,  or  their  valleys  scarce 
able  to  feed  a  rabbit  ?  .  .  .  .  Every  part  of  the  country 
presents  the  same  dismal  landscape.  No  grove  or  brook 
lend  their  [sic]  music  to  cheer  the  stranger."  One  can 
hardly  credit  the  fact  that  the  author  of   the  "Trav- 


1793.]  *  HER  VISIT   TO    SCOTLAND.  203 

eller"  and  the  "Deserted  Village"  should  have  shown 
so  little  taste  and  sensibility;  but  in  a  letter  written  a 
little  later  on  his  journey  to  his  uncle,  the  Eev.  Thomas 
Contarine,  from  Leyden,  he  says  of  Holland :  "  I  was 
wholly  taken  up  observing  the  face  of  the  country. 
Nothing  can  equal  its  beauty.  Wherever  I  turn  my  eye, 
fine  houses,  elegant  gardens,  grottos,  vistas,  presented 
themselves.  Scotland  and  this  country  bear  the  highest 
contrast:  there,  hills  and  rocks  intercept  every  pros- 
pect; here  it  is  all  a  continued  plain."  Sixty  years 
had  not  greatly  changed  impressions  gained  about  the 
Highlands  which  were  expressed  by  E.  Frank  Philan- 
thropus,  in  the  "Northern  Memoirs,"  printed  in  1694. 
He  wrote,  "  It  is  a  part  of  the  creation  left  undressed ; 
rubbish  thrown  aside  when  the  magnificent  fabric  of 
the  world  was  created ;  as  void  of  form  as  the  natives 
are  indigent  of  morals  and  good  manners."  When  Mrs. 
Barbauld  visited  the  Highlands,  a  great  improvement 
had  taken  place  in  the  habits  and  manners  of  the 
natives.  No  longer  the  puppets  of  faction  and  moved 
at  will  by  the  hand  of  adventurers  and  then  abandoned 
to  their  unhappy  fate  as  rebels,  the  people  were  becom- 
ing industrious  and  honest.  Travelling  was  no  longer 
dangerous,  for  roads  had  been  cut,  streams  bridged,  and 
inns  had  been  placed  in  pleasant  situations.  The  dens 
of  robbers  had  been  abandoned  by  their  inmates  for 
honest  occupations  and  homes. 


204  LIFE   OF   MRS.    BARBAULD.  [Chap.  IX. 

It  is  believed  that  on  this  occasion  Mrs.  Barbauld 
carried  with  her,  and  read  to  Dugald  Stewart,  the 
version  of  Burger's  "Lenora,"  by  William  Taylor  of 
Norwich,  her  scholar  in  early  life.  Of  this  poem,  Miss 
Aikin  says  that  it  made  Sir  Walter  Scott  a  poet.  In 
writing  to  Mr.  Murch  of  Bath,  in  1841,  she  says  of  Mr. 
Taylor,  "  A  remarkable  anecdote  belongs  to  his  incom- 
parable version  of  Burger's  '  Lenora,'  which  I  heard 
from  the  lips  of  Sir  Walter  Scott  himself,  as  he  was 
relating  it  to  Mrs.  Barbauld.  After  reminding  her  that 
long  before  the  ballad  was  printed  she  had  carried  it  with 
her  to  Edinburgh  and  read  it  to  Mr.  Dugald  Stewart, 
'  He,'  said  Scott, '  repeated  all  he  could  remember  of  it 
to  me,  and  this,  madam,  was  what  made  me  a  poet.  I 
had  several  times  attempted  the  more  regular  kinds  of 
poetry,  but  here  was  something  that  I  thought  I  could 
do.' " 

Buxton,  October,  1794. 
My  dear  Mrs.  Beecroft,  —  Is  it  permitted  me  to  renew  a 
correspondence  which  has  been  too  long  interrupted,  though 
our  friendship,  I  trust,  never  has  1  Strange  indeed  would  it 
be,  if  the  esteem  and  affection  I  owe  you  could  ever  subside, 
or  if  I  could  ever  forget  the  marks  of  kindness  and  attention 
I  have  always  received  from  you.  How  good  it  was  of  you 
to  invite  Mr.  Barbauld  while  I  have  been  rambling !  I 
should  have  been  more  satisfied  with  being  away  if  he  had 
accepted  your  offer ;  for  I  should  have  known  then  that  he 
would  have  no  occasion  to  regret  any  of  the  beautiful  scenes 


1794.]  DESCRIPTION    OF   SCOTLAND.  205 

T  have  enjoyed  without  him.  I  have  been  much  pleased 
-with  Scotland.  I  do  not  know  whether  you  ever  extended 
your  tour  so  far  :  if  you  have  not  seen  it,  let  me  beg  that 
you  will ;  for  I  do  not  think  that  in  any  equal  part  of 
England  so  many  interesting  objects  are  to  be  met  with  as 
occur  in  what  is  called  the  little  tour,  —  from  Edinburgh 
to  Sterling,  Perth,  and  Blair,  along  the  pleasant  wind- 
ings of  the  Forth  and  Tay ;  the'n  by  the  lakes,  ending 
with  Loch  Lomond,  the  last  and  greatest,  and  so  to  Glas- 
gow ;  then  to  the  Falls  of  the  Clyde,  and  back  by  Dum- 
fries ;  which  last,  however,  we  did  not  do,  for  we  returned 
to  Edinburgh.  Scotland  is  a  country  strongly  marked  with 
character.  Its  rocks,  its  woods,  its  waters,  its  castles,  its 
towns,  are  all  picturesque,  generally  grand.  Some  of  the 
views  are  wild  and  savage,  but  none  of  them  insipid,  if  you 
except  the  bleak,  flat,  extended  moor.  The  entrance  into 
the  Highlands  by  Dunkeld  is  striking ;  it  is  a  kind  of  gate. 
I  thought  it  would  be  a  good  place  for  hanging  up  an  in- 
scription similar  to  that  of  Dante,  "  Per  me  si  va  .  .  .  ." 

Edinburgh  is  so  commanding  a  situation  for  a  capital,  I 
almost  regretted  it  was  not  one,  and  that  the  fine  rooms  at 
Holyrood  House  are  falling  into  ruins.  The  old  and  the  new 
town  make  the  finest  contrast  in  the  world ;  but,  beautiful  as 
the  new  town  is,  I  was  convinced,  after  being  some  days  in 
it,  that  its  perfect  regularity  tends  towards  insipidity,  and 
that  a  gentle  waving  line  in  a  street,  provided  it  is  without 
affectation,  and  has  the  advantage  of  some  inequality  of 
ground,  is  more  agreeable  than  streets  that  cut  one  another 
at  right  angles. 


206  LIFE    OF   MKS.    BAEBAULD.  [Chap.  IX. 

We  were  much  struck  with  the  Falls  of  the  Clyde  and  its 
steep  banks  richly  wooded.  Indeed,  wherever  the  country 
is  wooded  it  is  beautiful,  and  it  is  everywhere  improving  in 
that  respect  :  millions  of  trees  are  planted  every  year ;  but 
it  is  some  time  before  planted  trees  form  a  feature  of  the 
country.  A  belt  of  wood,  dotted  clumps,  a  circlet  of  firs  on 
a  hill,  have  not  the  easy  and  natural  appearance  of  a  wood 
that  fills  the  hollow  of  a  valley,  and  shapes  itself  to  the 
bendings  and  risings  of  the  ground.  And  now  let  me  whis- 
per in  your  ear  that  I  long  very  much  to  be  at  home  again  : 
the  limits  which  I  had  set  myself  not  to  exceed  are  expired ; 
and  besides,  I  do  not  like  this  country,  which  has  all  the 
dreariness  without  the  grandeur  of  scenery  of  that  which  we 
have  left.  The  Crescent,  however,  has  a  beautiful  appear- 
ance in  a  deep  hollow  surrounded  by  hills.  It  looks  like  a 
jewel  at  the  bottom  of  an  earthen  cup. 

In  the  year  1795  appeared  Mrs.  Barbauld's  essay 
which  was  prefixed  to  the  illustrated  edition  of  Aken- 
side's  "Pleasures  of  the  Imagination,"  and  in  1797  she 
also  wrote  another  critical  essay  in  a  similar  style, 
which  was  the  introduction  to  an  illustrated  edition  of 
Collins's  "  Odes."  The  essays  are  written  ably  and  with 
discrimination,  and  display  poetic  knowledge,  taste, 
and  judgment,  but  in  the  opinion  of  Miss  Aikin  are 
"less  marked  with  the  peculiar  features  of  her  style 
than  any  other  of  her  prose  works."  The  next  letter 
feelingly   mentions   the   French   emigrants   who   were 


1795.]       FRENCH  REFUGEES  IX  EXGLAXD.        207 

driven  to  the  friendly  asylum  of  England  by  the  hor- 
rors of  the  Revolution,  and  received  there  kind  treat- 
ment ;  though  many  of  them,  who  were  too  proud  to 
make  their  wants  known,  suffered  terrible  privations. 
The  adventures  of  these  poor  people  in  reaching  Eng- 
land were  most  extraordinary,  and  some  of  them  read 
like  fiction,  so  strange  and  wonderful  was  their  escape 
from  death  at  the  hands  of  the  infuriated  dema^o^ues 
in  power,  some  of  them  drowning  in  their  passage  in 
little  boats  across  the  stormy  channel. 

To  Mrs.  Beecroft. 

September  2,  1795. 
....  Your  emigrants  are  very  interesting*  people.  I 
think  the  English  character  has  never  appeared  in  a  more 
amiable  light  than  in  the  kind  and  hospitable  attentions 
which  have  been  pretty  generally  shown  to  these  unfortunate 
people.  I  was  much  amused  with  Louvet,  and  interested ; 
though  I  confess  the  interest  was  somewhat  weakened  by 
the  reflection  that  he  was  by  profession  a  bookseller  and  a 
writer  of  romances ;  and  I  think  one  may  discover  a  few 
traits  de  plume  in  the  high  coloring  he  gives  to  the  attach- 
ment between  himself  and  his  wife.  TThat  has  still  more 
interested  me,  —  because  I  have  a  higher  opinion  of  her 
character,  and  greater  confidence  in  her  sincerity,  —  is 
VAppel  de  Madame  Roland.  What  talents  !  what  energy 
of  character  !  what  powers  of  description  !  But  have  you 
seen  the  Second  Part,  which  has  not  been  printed  here,  and 
which  contains  memoirs  of  her  life  from  the  earliest  period 


208  LIFE   OF   MRS.    BARBAULD.  [Chap.  IX. 

to  the  death  of  her  mother,  when  she  was  one-and-twenty  ] 
It  is  surely  the  most  singular  book  that  has  appeared  since 
the  "  Confessions  of  Rousseau  "  ;  a  book  that  none  but  a 
French  woman  could  write,  and  wonderfully  entertaining.  I 
began  it  with  a  certain  fear  upon  my  mind,  —  What  is  this 
woman  going  to  tell  me  1  "Will  it  be  anything  but  what 
will  lessen  my  esteem  for  her?  If,  however,  we  were  to 
judge  of  the  female  and  male  mind  by  contrasting  these  con- 
fessions with  those  I  just  now  mentioned,  the  advantage  ill 
purity,  comme  de  raison,  will  be  greatly  on  the  side  of  our  sex. 

In  the  following  letter  to  Mrs.  Beecroft,  Mrs.  Bar- 
bauld  tells  her  of  her  meeting  with  General  Paoli, 
whom,  the  reader  will  remember,  she  had  warmly 
eulogized  in  her  "Address  to  the  Corsicans,"  published 
in  the  year  1773,  in  her  "  Collected  Poems."  One  can 
fancy  the  feeling  of  interest  and  emotion  with  which 
she  met  the  hero,  though  it  was  "  thirty  years "  after 
the  poem  was  written. 

To  Mrs.  Beecroft. 

Hampstead,  July  25,  1796. 
....  I  do  not  know  the  present  course  of  your  read- 
ing, but  I  imagine  that  two  works,  at  least,  have  employed 
the  leisure  of  both  of  us,  —  Roscoe's  "  Lorenzo  "  and  Mrs. 
D'Arblay's  "  Camilla."  The  former  is  a  very  capital  work  : 
I  only  wish  that,  instead  of  making  Lorenzo  the  Magnificent 
the  centre  round  which  everything  revolves,  he  had  made  the 


1796.]  CORRESPONDENCE.  209 

history  of  literature  itself  the  professed  subject  of  his  work, 
and  taken  the  Medici  only  in  connection  with  that.  And 
how  do  you  like  "  Camilla  "  1  Not  so  well,  I  am  afraid,  as  the 
former  publications  from  the  same  hand.  I  like,  however, 
the  story  of  Eugenia,  where  the  distress  is  *  new,  and  the 
character  of  that  amiable  imbecille  the  uncle ;  and  Mrs.  Arl- 
berry's  character  is  very  well  drawn.  I  was  struck,  on  read- 
ing the  work,  with  the  persuasion  that  no  second  work  of  an 
author,  who  has  written  the  first  after  being  in  possession  of 
his  powers,  can  help  falling  off,  and  for  this  reason,  —  every 
one  has  a  manner  of  his  own,  a  vein  of  thinking  peculiar  to 
himself;  and  on  the  second  publication,  though  the  in- 
cidents may  be  all  new,  the  novelty  resulting  from  this 
originality  is  gone  forever.  I  think  Gibbon  says,  in  his 
very  entertaining  Memoirs,  that  nothing  can  renew  the 
pleasure  with  which  a  favorite  author  and  the  public  meet 
one  another  for  the  first  time. 

I  am  just  now  reduced  to  regret,  my  dear  friend,  that  I 
have  taken  such  small  paper.  It  cuts  short  what  I  was 
going  to  tell  you  of  General  Paoli,  whom  I.  met  the  other 
day.  Had  it  been  thirty  years  ago,  it  would  have  made 
my  heart  beat  stronger.  He  told  us  a  good  deal  about  his 
godson  and  aid-de-camp,  Buonaparte,  who  was  going  to 
write  Paoli's  annals,  when  he  was  called  upon  to  give  ample 
matter  for  his  own  annals. 

The  next  letter  was  written  to  her  friend  Mrs.  Carr, 
of  Hampstead,  while  the  Barbaulds  were  making  one 
of  their  little  trips  for  health  and  relaxation.      Mrs. 


210  LIFE   OF   MRS.   BAEBAULD.  [Chap.  IX. 

Barbauld  always  seems  to  have  found  enjoyment  and 
attraction  in  the  country,  and  her  love  of  nature  was  a 
constant  source  of  the  simplest  and  purest  pleasure. 

To  Mrs.  Carr. 

Pit  Cot,  near  Bridgend,  July  18,  1797. 
.  .  .  We  nattered  ourselves  with  seeing  some  of  the  beau- 
ties of  South  Wales  in  coming  hither,  but  we  were  completely 
disappointed  by  the  state  of  the  weather.  This  country  is 
bleak  and  bare,  with  fine  views  of  the  sea,  and  a  bold  rocky 
coast,  with  a  beach  of  fine  hard  sand.  We  have  been  much 
pleased  with  watching  the  coming  in  of  the  tide  among  the 
rocks,  against  which  it  dashes,  forming  columns  of  spray 
twenty  and  thirty  foot  high,  accompanied  with  rainbows, 
and  with  a  roar  like  distant  cannon.  There  are  fine  caverns 
and  recesses  amongst  the  rocks  ;  one  particularly,  which  we 
took  the  opportunity  of  visiting  yesterday,  as  it  can  only  be 
entered  at  the  ebb  of  the  spring-tides.  It  is  very  spacious, 
beautifully  arched,  and  composed  of  granite  rocks  finely 
veined  with  alabaster,  which  the  imagination  may  easily 
form  into  are  semblance  of  a  female  figure,  and  is,  of  course, 
the  Nereid  of  the  grotto.  We  wished  to  have  stayed  longer, 
but  our  friend  hurried  us  away,  lest  the  tide  should  rush  in, 
which  it  is  supposed  to  do  from  subterraneous  caverns,  as  it 
fills  before  the  tide  covers  the  sand  of  the  adjacent  beach. 
I  was  particularly  affected  with  the  fate  of  two  lovers  (a 
young  gentleman  and  lady  from  Clifton),  whose  friends  were 
here  for  the  sake  of  sea-bathing.     They  stole  out  early  one 


1797.]  CORRESPONDENCE.  211 

morning  by  themselves,  and  strolled  along  the  beach  till 
they  came  to  this  grotto,  which,  being  then  empty,  they 
entered.  They  admired  the  strata  of  rock  leaning  in  differ- 
ent directions.  They  admired  the  incrustation  which  covers 
part  of  the  sides,  exactly  resembling  honeycomb  ;  various 
shells  imbedded  in  the  rock  \  the  sea-anemone  spreading  its 
purple  fringe,  —  an  animal  flower  clinging  to  the  rocks. 
They  admired  the  first  efforts  of  vegetation  in  the  purple 
and  green  tints  occasioned  by  the  lichens  and  other  mosses 
creeping  over  the  bare  stone.  They  admired  these  together  ; 
they  loved  each  other  the  more  for  having  the  same  tastes  ; 
and  they  taught  the  echoes  of  the  cavern  to  repeat  the  vows 
which  they  made  of  eternal  constancy.  In  the  mean  time 
the  tide  was  coming  in  :  of  this  they  were  aware,  as  they 
now  and  then  glanced  their  eye  on  the  waves,  which  they 
saw  advancing  at  a  distance ;  but,  not  knowing  the  peculiar 
nature  of  the  cavern,  they  thought  themselves  safe  ;  when  on 
a  sudden,  as  they  were  in  the  furthest  part  of  it,  the  waters 
rushed  in  from  fissures  in  the  rock  with  terrible  roaring. 
They  climbed  from  ledge  to  ledge  of  the  rocks,  —  but  in 
vain  ;  the  waters  rose  impetuously,  and  at  length  filled  the 
whole  grotto.  Their  bodies  were  found  the  next  day,  when 
the  tide  was  out,  reclining  on  a  shelf  of  rock ;  he  in  the 
tender  attitude  of  supporting  her  in  the  very  highest  ac- 
cessible part,  and  leaning  his  own  head  in  her  lap,  —  so  that 
he  must  have  died  first.'  Poor  lovers  !  If,  however,  you 
should  be  too  much  grieved  for  them,  you  may  impute  the 
whole,  if  you  please,  to  a  waking  dream  which  I  had  in 
the  grotto. 


212  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  X. 


CHAPTEE  X. 

The  Barbaulds  visit  Bristol.  —  They  meet  Dr.  Beddoes.  —  His 
Character.  —  They  visit  Dorking.  —  Call  on  Madame  D'Arblay. 
—  Her  account  of  the  Visit,  and  Impression  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Barbauld.  —  Mr.  Rogers's  Anecdote  of  a  Poem  of  Mrs.  Bar- 
bauld.  —  Letter  from  Mrs.  Barbauld  to  Miss  More.  —  She 
forms  a  Friendship  with  the  Edgeworths.  —  Miss  Edgeworth's 
Account  of  it.  —  Mrs.  Edgeworth's  Description  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Barbauld.  —  Sugar  not  used  by  the  Opponents  of  the  Slave- 
Trade.  —  Character  of  Dr.  Priestley  by  Mrs.  Barbauld.  — 
Address  to  him  by  her.  —  Joanna  Baillie.  —  Her  Tragedies.  — 
Dr.  Aikin's  Description  of  his  Visit  to  Kibworth. 

IN  Mrs.  Barbauld's  letter  from  Bristol,  where  they 
were  making  one  of  their  visits  at  the  house  of 
Dr.  and  Mrs.  Estlin,  she  writes  to  Mrs.  Carr  of  meet- 
ing in  that  city  Dr.  Beddoes.  He  was  celebrated  for 
his  endeavors  to  introduce  the  use  of  gases  in  the  cure 
of  certain  diseases,  and  with  various  friends  he  spent 
much  time  and  money  in  the  pursuit  of  his  investiga- 
tions. He  had  a  few  years  before  married  Anna,  one 
of  the  daughters  of  Bichard  Lovell  Edgeworth,  and  own 
sister  of  Maria  Edgeworth.  He  was  the  friend  of  Dr. 
Darwin  the  author  of  the  "  Botanic  Garden,"  and  the 


1797.]  VISIT   TO   HANNAH   MORE.  213 

patron  of  Sir  Humphry  Davy,  who  characterized  him  as 
"  a  truly  remarkable  man,  but  more  admirably  fitted  to 
promote  inquiry  than  to  conduct  it."  Dr.  Beddoes  had 
a  marked  and  extraordinary  love  of  investigation  and 
an  enthusiasm  for  his  chosen  researches.  He  at- 
tempted the  cure  of  pulmonary  complaints  by  pre- 
scribing and  administering  gases  through  inhalation. 
In  the  "  Life  of  the  Wedgwoods "  one  reads  of  the 
experiments  made,  and  finds  that  Thomas  Wedgwood, 
who  was  suffering  from  a  pulmonary  complaint,  passed 
several  months  at  the  house  of  Dr.  Beddoes,  and  also 
assisted  him  with  money  for  continuing  his  insti- 
tution where  the  treatment  of  poor  patients  was 
pursued  gratuitously.  Mr.  Wedgwood  hoped  to  be 
benefited  by  the  medicated  airs  which  he  inhaled,  but 
he  does  not  appear  to  have  gained  any  relief  there- 
from. Dr.  Beddoes  seems  to  have  had  many  odd 
fancies,  one  of  which  Mrs.  Barbauld  speaks  of  in 
her  letter.  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Estlin  had  a  large  boarding- 
school  in  Bristol.  Sir  Henry  Holland,  in  Iris  Ptemi- 
niscences,  mentions  their  school  with  pleasure,  and 
affectionately  reverts  to  the  memories  of  days  passed 
there. 

During  this  visit  to  the  Estlins,  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Barbauld  also  visited  Miss  Hannah  More  at  her  cot- 
tage, Cowslip  Green,  passing  with  her  and  her  sisters, 
a  delightful  day. 


214  LIFE   OF   MRS.    BARBATJLD.  [Chap.  X. 

To  Mrs.  Carr. 

Bristol,  August,  1797. 

We  are  here  very  comfortably  with  our  friend  Mr.  Estlin, 
who,  like  some  other  persons  that  I  know,  has  the  happy 
art  of  making  his  friends  feel  entirely  at  home  with  him  :  — 
he  and  Mrs.  E.  follow  their  occupations  in  the  morning,  and 
we  our  inclinations.  The  walks  here  on  both  sides  the  river 
are  delightful;  and  the  scenery  at  St.  Vincent's  rocks, 
whether  viewed  from  above  or  below,  is  far  superior,  in  my 
opinion,  even  to  the  beautifully  dressed  scenes  that  border 
the  Thames,  though  these  exceed  it  in  fine  trees 

I  have  seen  Dr.  Beddoes,  who  is  a  very  pleasant  man ;  his 
favorite  prescription  at  present  to  ladies  is,  the  inhaling  the 
breath  of  cows  ;  and  as  he  does  not,  like  the  German  doctors, 
send  the  ladies  to  the  cow-house,  the  cows  are  to  be  brought 
into  the  lady's  chamber,  where  they  are  to  stand  all  night 

with  their  heads  within  the  curtains.     Mrs.  ,  who  has  a 

good  deal  of  humor,  says  the  benefit  cannot  be  mutual ;  and 
she  is  afraid,  if  the  fashion  takes,  we  shall  eat  diseased  beef. 
It  is  a  fact,  however,  that  a  family  have  been  turned  out  of 
their  lodgings,  because  the  people  of  the  house  would  not 
admit  the  cows  :  they  said  they  had  not  built  and  furnished 
their  rooms  for  the  hoofs  of  cattle. 

In  the  same  year  Dr.  Aikin,  who  was  quite  ill, 
found  the  necessity  of  change  of  air  and  scene.  He 
therefore  passed  four  months  at  Dorking  in  Surrey. 
There  he  was  cheered  by  the  society  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Barbauld,  who  made  him  a  visit.     In  the  "  Monthly 


1797.]  •        VISIT   TO    MADAME   D'aRBLAY.  215 

Magazine"  of  that  year  there  appeared  ari  animated  and 
appreciative  description  of  the  beauties  of  the  natural 
objects  and  landscape  gardening  in  that  part  of  Sur- 
rey, from  the  pen  of  Dr.  Aikin.  In  the  Diary  of 
Madame  D'Arblay,  there  is  the  following  descrip- 
tion of  a  call  made  her  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Barbauld, 
then  with  Dr.  Aikin.  In  a  letter  to  her  father 
dated  Bookham,  1797,  she  writes :  "  Imagine  my  sur- 
prise .the  other  day,  my  dearest  padre,  at  receiving 
a  visit  from  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Barbauld !  We  had  never 
visited,  and  only  met  one  evening  at  Mr.  Burrow's 
by  appointment,  whither  I  was  carried  to  meet 
her  by  Mrs.  Chapone.  They  are  at  Dorking  on  a 
visit  to  Dr.  Aikin,  her  brother,  who  is  there  at  a  lodg- 
ing for  his  health.  I  received  them  with  great  pleasure, 
for  I  think  highly  both  of  her  talents  and  her  character, 
and  he  seems  a  very  gentle,  good  sort  of  a  man." 

The  next  year,  Madame  D'Arblay,  in  writing  to  her 
sister,  Mrs.  Phillips,  from  West  Hamble,  Dorking, 
says : — 

"  I  was  extremely  surprised  to  be  told  by  the  maid  a 
gentleman  and  lady  had  called  at  the  door,  who  sent  in  a 
card  and  begged  to  know  if  I  could  admit  them,  and  to  see 
the  names  on  the  card  were  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Barbauld.  I  had 
never  seen  them  more  than  twice  :  the  first  time,  by  their 
own  desire,  Mrs.  Chapone  carried  me  to  meet  them  at  Mr. 
Burrow's ;  the  other  time,  I  think,  was  at  Mrs.  Chapone's. 


216  LIFE   OF   MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  X. 

You  must  be  sure  I  could  not  hesitate  to  receive  with  thank- 
fulness this  civility  from  the  authoress  of  the  most  useful 
books,  next  'to  Mrs.  Trimmer's,  that  have  been  yet  written 
for  children  •  though  this  with  the  world  is  probably  her 
very  secondary  merit,  her  many  pretty  poems,  and  particu- 
larly songs,  being  generally  esteemed.  But  many  more  have 
written  those  as  well,  and  not  a  few  better  •  for  children's 
books  she  began  the  new  walk  which  has  since  been  so  well 
cultivated,  to  the  great  information  as  well  as  utility  of 
parents. 

"  Mr.  Barbauld  is  a  Dissenting  minister,  —  an  author 
also,  but  I  am  unacquainted  with  his  works.  They  were  in 
our  little  dining-parlor,  —  the  only  room  that  has  any  chairs 
in  it,  —  and  began  apologies  for  the  visit ;  but  I  interrupted, 
and  finished  them  with  my  thanks."  (Madame  D'Arblay 
had  just  moved  into  her  new  cottage,  named  by  her,  after 
her  last  novel,  Camilla  Cottage  ;  and  it  was  in  much  disorder, 
for  her  marriage  with  M.  D'Arblay  had  been  one  of  affection, 
hardly  of  prudence,  and  they  were  very  much  straitened  in 
their  income.)  "  She  is  much  altered,  but  not  for  the  worse 
to  me,  though  she  is  for  herself,  since  the  flight  of  her  youth, 
which  is  evident,  has  also  taken  with  it  a  great  portion  of  an 
almost  set  smile,  which  had  an  air  of  determined  complacence 
and  prepared  acquiescence  that  seemed  to  result  from  a 
sweetness  which  never  risked  being  off  guard.  I  remember 
Mrs.  Chapone's  saying  to  me,  after  our  interview,  '  She  is  a 
very  good  young  women,  as  well  as  replete  with  talents  ;  but 
why  must  one  always  smile  so  1  It  makes  my  poor  jaws 
ache  to  look  at  her.'     We  talked,  of  course,  of  that  excellent 


1797.]  MADAME   d'ARBLAY.  217 

lady  ;  and  you  will  believe  I  did  not  quote  her  notions  of 

smiling Her  brother,  Dr.  Aikin,  with  his* family,  were 

passing  the  summer  at  Dorking  on  account  of  his  ill  health, 
the  air  of  that  town  having  been  recommended  for  his  com- 
plaint. The  Barbaulds  were  come  to  spend  some  time  with 
him,  and  would  not  be  so  near  without  renewing  their  ac- 
quaintance. They  had  been  walking  in  Norbury  Park,  which 
they  admired  very  much  ;  and  Mrs.  Barbauld  very  elegantly 
said,  '  If  there  was  such  a  public  officer  as  a  legislator  of 
taste,  Mr.  Lock  ought  to  be  chosen  for  it.'  They  inquired 
much  about  M.  D'Arblay,  who  was  working  in  his  garden, 
and  would  not  be  at  the  trouble  of  dressing  to  appear.  They 
desired  to  see  Alex  "  (her  son),  "  and  I  produced  him  •  and 
his  orthographical  feats  were  very  well  timed  here,  for,  as 
soon  as  Mrs.  Barbauld  said,  '  What  is  your  name,  you  pretty 
creature  1 '  he  sturdily  answered,  '  B  0  Y.' 

"  Almost  all  our  discourse  was  upon  the  Irish  rebellion. 
Mr.  Barbauld  is  a  very  little,  diminutive  figure,  but  well- 
bred  and  sensible.  I  borrowed  her  poems  afterwards,  of  Mr. 
Daniel,  who  chanced  to  have  them,  and  have  read  them  with 
much  esteem  of  the  piety  and  worth  they  exhibit,  and  real 
admiration  of  the  last  amongst  them,  which  is  an  epistle  to 
Mr.  Wilberforce  in  favor  of  the  demolition  of  the  slave-trade, 
in  which  her  energy  seems  to  spring  from  the  real  spirit  of 
virtue,  suffering  at  the  luxurious  depravity  which  can  tol- 
erate, in  a  free  land,  so  unjust,  cruel,  and  abominable  a  traffic. 

"  We  returned  their  visit  together  in  a  few  days,  at  Dr. 
Aikin's  lodgings  at  Dorking,  where,  as   she  permitted  M 

10 


218  LIFE   OF   MRS.    BARBAULD.  [Chap.  X. 

D'Arblay  to  speak  French,  they  had  a  very  animated  dis- 
course upon  buildings,  French  and  English,  each  supporting 
those  of  their  own  country  with  great  spirit,  but  my  mon- 
sieur, to  own  the  truth,  having  greatly  the  advantage  both 
in  manner  and  argument.  He  was  in  spirits,  and  came 
forth  with  his  best  exertions.  Dr.  Aikin  looks  very  sickly, 
but  is  said  to  be  better ;  he  had  a  good  countenance." 

In  Bogers's  "  Table-Talk  "  there  is  an  anecdote  related 
by  him  of  Madame  D'Arblay  in  her  old  age,  which  is 
not  out  of  place  here.  He  says :  "  I  know  few  lines 
finer  than  the  concluding  stanza  of  '  Life '  by  Mrs. 
Barbauld,  who  composed  it  when  she  was  very  old. 

'  Life  !  we  've  been  long  together, 
Through  pleasant  and  through  cloudy  weather  ; 
'Tis  hard  to  part  when  friends  are  dear  ; 
Perhaps  't  will  cost  a  sigh,  a  tear  ; 
Then  steal  away,  give  little  warning, 

Choose  thine  own  time  ; 
Say  not  Good  Night,  —  but  in  some  brighter  clime 

Bid  me  Good  Morning.' 

Sitting  with  Madame  D'Arblay  some  weeks  before 
she  died,  I  said  to  her,  '  Do  you  remember  those  lines 
of  Mrs.  Barbauld's  "Life"  which  I  once  repeated  to 
you  ? '  '  Bemember  them  ! '  she  replied  ;  '  I  repeat 
them  to  myself  every  night  before  I  go  to  sleep.'  " 

Mr.  Henry  Crabb  Bobinson  alludes  to  a  conversation 
with  Mr.  Bogers,  who  repeated  to  him  this  anecdote  in 


1799.]  LETTER   TO   MISS   MORE.  219 

1837,  and  also  spoke  of  Mrs.  Barbauld,  as  he  always 
did  when  she  was  mentioned,  with  great  affection  and 
regard. 

From  Mrs.  Barbauld  to  Miss  H.  More. 

Hampstead,  1799. 
Dear  Madam,  — You  have  done  me  both  honor  and  pleas- 
ure in  the  gratification  you  have  indulged  me  with,  of  receiv- 
ing, from  the  respected  hand  of  the  author,  a  treatise  which 
every  one  who  reads  will  peruse.  I  dare  not  speak  to  you, 
who  write  with  so  much  higher  views  than  those  of  fame,  of 
the  brilliancy  of  the  style,  or  the  merit  of  the  work  consid- 
ered as  a  literary  composition.  You  will  be  better  pleased  if, 
passing  over  these  excellences  which,  though  every  person  of 
taste  must  feel  them,  every  person  solicitous  for  the  interests 
of  virtue  and  religion  must  consider  as  subordinate  ones,  I 
express  my  ardent  wishes  that  your  benevolent  intentions 
towards  the  rising  generation,  and  your  unwearied  exertions 
in  every  path  where  good  is  to  be  done  to  your  fellow-crea- 
tures, may  meet  with  ample  success.  The  field  is  large,  and 
laborers  of  every  complexion,  and  who  handle  their  tools 
very  differently,  are  all  called  to  co-operate  in  the  great  work. 
May  all  who  have  the  good  of  mankind  in  view  preserve  for 
each  other  the  esteem  and  affectionate  wishes  which  virtue 
owes  to  virtue,  through  all  those  smaller  *  differences  which 
must  ever  take  place  between  thinking  beings  seeing  through 

*  The  differences,  however,  were  by  no  means  small  between  Miss  More's 
and  Mrs.  B 's  religioiis  opinions. 


220  LIFE   OF   MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  X. 

different  mediums,  and  subjected  to  the  weakness  and  im- 
perfection of  all  human  reasoning.  Mr.  Barbauld  and  my- 
self recollect  with  infinite  pleasure  the  delightful  and  inter- 
esting day  we  passed  under  your  roof  the  summer  before  last. 
It  was  only  damped  by  your  indisposition ;  and  the  accounts 
I  have  heard  of  your  health  have  not  been  such  as  to  favor 
the  hope  that  you  have  been  much  freer  from  it  of  late. 
Spare  yourself,  I  entreat  you,  for  the  world  cannot  spare  you  ; 
and  consider  that,  in  the  most  indolent  day  you  can  possibly 
spend,  you  are  in  every  drawing-room,  and  every  closet,  and 
every  parlor  window,  gliding  from  place  to  place  with  won- 
derful celerity,  and  talking  good  things  to  hundreds  and  hun- 
dreds of  auditors.*  I  do  not  know  where  you  are  at  this  mo- 
ment, but  if  at  home,  I  beg  you  will  give  Mr.  Barbauld's  and 
my  affectionate  respects  to  all  and  every  one  of  your  sisters, 
and  accept,  my  dear  madam,  the  assurance  of  high  esteem 
with  which 

I  am  your  obliged  and  affectionate 

A.  L.  Barbauld. 

Miss  Edgeworth  has  been  named  among  the  friends 
and  contemporaries  of  Mrs.  Barbauld.  They  met  first 
in  1799,  and  till  Mrs.  Barbauld's  death  were  firm  and 
devoted  friends.  In  the  spring  of  the  year  1799  the 
Barbaulds  visited  the  Edgeworth  family,  who  were  at 
Clifton  for  the  health  of  one  of  the  children.  In 
Maria's  Memoir  of  her  father,  she  speaks  of  the 
friendship   which   was   then   formed   and  the   mutual 

*  Alluding  to  "  Strictures  on  Education,"  by  H.  More,  1790. 


1799.]  THE  EDGEWORTH   FAMILY.  221 

pleasure  it  afforded,  and  says  :  "  Among  the  friends  he 
(Mr.  Edgeworth)  formed  during  this  summer  in  Eng- 
land, and  in  consequence  of  the  publication  of  his 
sentiments  on  education,  was  Mrs.  .Barbauld.  Her 
writings  he  had  long  admired  for  their  classic  strength 
and  elegance,  for  their  high  and  true  tone  of  moral  and 
religious  feeling,  and  for  their  practically  useful  ten- 
dency. She  gratified  him  by  accepting  an  invitation  to 
pass  some  time  with  us  at  Clifton ;  and  ever  after- 
wards, though  at  a  great  distance  from  each  other,  her 
constant  friendship  for  him  was  a  source  of  great  pleas- 
ure and  just  pride."  Later  on  in  the  Memoir,  Miss 
Edgeworth  remarks  that  Mrs.  Barbauld  was  the  first 
person  who  made  some  unanswerable  objections  to  cer- 
tain parts  of  Mr.  Edgeworth's  book  on  "  Practical  Edu- 
cation." Miss  Aikin  says  that  one  of  Mrs.  Barbauld's 
letters  to  Miss  Edgeworth  contains    "  some  excellent 

criticisms  on  Mr.  E 's  '  Practical  Education.'  "     In 

the  observations  on  "  Practical  Education "  in  the 
Memoir,  Miss  Edgeworth  says  that  "  Mrs.  Barbauld 
was  further  well  prepared  to  urge  against  his  plan  the 
tendency  to  foster  aristocratic  pride  and  perhaps  in- 
gratitude. The  one-and-twenty  other  good  reasons  she 
said  could  be  given,  my  father  spared  her."  She  ob- 
jected to  the  mode  by  which  he  proposed  to  entirely 
separate  children  from  all  or  any  association  with  ser- 
vants.    In  his  own  immense  family,  consisting  of  an 


222  LIFE  OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  X. 

almost  patriarchal  number  of  relations  and  children,  the 
entire  absence  of  domestics  about  the  children  might 
be  secured ;  but  in  ordinary  families  his  plan  was 
neither  practicable  nor  desirable. 

Mrs.  Edgeworth  wrote  of  this  visit  of  the  Barbaulds 
in  a  letter  to  one  of  the  family  in  Ireland :  "  We  met 
at  Clifton  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Barbauld.  He  was  an  amiable 
and  benevolent  man,  so  eager  against  the  slave-trade 
that  when  he  drank  tea  with  us  he  always  brought 
some  East  India  sugar,  that  he  might  not  share  our 
wickedness  in  eating  that  made  by  the  negro  slave. 
Mrs.  Barbauld,  whose  '  Evenings  at  Home '  had  so 
much  delighted  Maria  and  her  father,  was  very  pretty, 
and  conversed  with  great  ability  in  admirable  lan- 
guage." Among  the  first  measures  urged  by  the  most 
enthusiastic  opponents  of  the  slave-trade  was  that  of 
persuading  all  whom  they  could  influence  to  abstain 
from  the  use  of  sugar  and  other  West  Indian  articles 
which  were  the  manufacture  or  raised  by  the  labor  of 
slaves.  Many  conscientious  persons  did  actually  adopt 
this  plan  of  abstinence  from  the  articles  of  slave  labor ; 
but  naturally  the  numbers  who  did  not  use  these  com- 
modities were  not  great  enough  to  prevent  the  demand 
for  them,  and  consequent  supply  by  slave  labor.  Dr. 
Aikin,  in  writing  his  sister  at  this  time,  tells  her  that 
he,  though  considering  the  plan  an  unpractical  one,  has 
at  last  yielded  to  the  custom,  saying,  "  I  am  at  length 


1799.J  ANTI-SLAVERY   SCRUPLES.  223 

become  a  practical  anti-saccharist.  I  could  not  continue 
to  be  the  only  person  in  the  family  who  used  a  luxury 
which  grew  less  and  less  sweet  from  the  reflections 
mingled  with  it.  I  do  not  in  this  matter  look  to  effects. 
They  are  in  the  hands  of  Providence,  and  I  neither  ex- 
pect nor  despair  about  them.  I  resign  the  use  of  sugar 
merely  on  the  conviction  that,  feeling  as  I  do  about 
the  mode  in  which  it  is  procured,  I  cannot  justify  the 
use  of  it  to  myself.  It  is  a  personal  affair  to  me, 
and  I  neither  feel  a  desire  to  make  nor  trouble  myself 
about  consequences.  The  sacrifice  I  find  less  than  I 
expected ;  it  is,  indeed,  almost  too  little  to  make  to 
principle  with  the  idea  of  merit.  I  know  not  whether 
mere  economy  might  not  do  as  much.  But  with  re- 
spect to  the  young  people,  and  even  children,  who  have 
entirely  on  their  own  accord  resigned  an  indulgence 
important  to  them,  I  triumph  and  admire !  Nothing  is 
to  be  despaired  of,  if  many  of  the  rising  generation  are 
capable  of  such  conduct." 

The  preceding  letter  to  Miss  More,  written  in  the 
year  1799,  shows  the  warm  feeling  of  friendship  existing 
between  these  two  eminent  women.  It  was  occasioned 
by  the  receipt  of  Miss  More's  new  book,  the  "  Strictures 
on  Female  Education,"  which  was  a  powerful  work, 
and  highly  valued  at  the  time  of  its  publication,  as  the 
state  of  education  was  extremely  poor.  This  book  was 
the  third  prose  work  of  its  gifted  author,  and  a  very 


224  LIFE   OF   MRS.   BAKBAULD.  [Chap.  X. 

able,  sensible  criticism  of  the  subject.  One  lady  said 
of  it,  showing  how  indifferent  people  were  to  the  state 
of  education  for  women,  "Everybody  will  read  her, 
everybody  admire  her,  and  nobody  mind  her." 

To  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Estlin. 

Hampstead,  December  5,  1799. 

My  dear  Friends,  —  It  is  now  much  longer  than  I  wish  it 
ever  to  be  since  any  letter  has  passed  between  us ;  I  wish, 
therefore,  to  hear  news  of  you  both  ;  particularly  as  you  are 
drawing  near  the  end  of  a  session,  the  fatigues  of  which  must 
always  more  or  less  give  some  wear  and  tear  to  your  health 
and  exhaust  your  spirits.  I  hope  you  have  not  forgotten 
that,  in  order  to  recruit  them,  you  proposed  coming,  both  of 
you,  to  London  this  Christmas ;  and  I  hope  that  you  have 
by  no  means  forgot  that  it  was  a  part  of  the  plan  to  give  us 
as  much  of  your  time  at  Hampstead  as  you  can  spare  con- 
sistently with  other  engagements.  Write  us  word,  then, 
that  you  are  preparing  to  pack  off  the  boys  and  come  to  us ; 
and  I  assure  you  we  shall  feel  more  enlivened  by  the  news 
than  by  ten  gallons  of  Dr.  Beddoes's  most  vivifying  air.  How 
often  do  we  recall  the  heartfelt  pleasures  we  enjoyed  in  the 
daily  and  unrestrained  intercourse  of  Southendown,  —  the 
philosophic  discussions,  the  infantile  mirth,  the  caves,  the 
rocks,  and  especially  the  two  nymphs,  to  whom  —  if  they 
are  now  within  your  circle  —  we  beg  to  be  affectionately  re- 
membered !  .  .  .  . 

We  have  been  much  entertained  by  the  "  Annual  Anthol- 


1800.]  CORRESPONDENCE.  225 

ogy  "  ;  there  are  some  charming  pieces  in  it.  To  pass  from 
poetry  to  divinity,  have  you  seen  a  small  piece,  which  has 
been  much  read  and  speculated  upon  here,  Apeleutheros  1 
Some  attribute  it  to  one  person,  some  to  another  ;  but  the 
fact  is,  the  author  has  kept  his  secret  well.  It  is  written  with 
great  candor,  but  is  slight,  considering  the  importance  of 
the  subject  to  be  discussed.  It  has  not  been  published ;  and 
I  cannot  avoid  a  melancholy  sensation  on  reflecting,  that  such 
are  the  times  we  live  in,  that  a  bookseller  dares  not  publish 
a  pamphlet  written  with  perfect  decency,  and  in  which, 
moreover,  there  is  not  a  word  of  politics.  But  we  should  not 
be  better  in  France.  How  the  revolutions  of  that  country 
mock  all  calculation  !  I  should  suppose  that  the  late  events 
have  not  tended  to  bring  newspapers  into  more  request  than 
they  were  at  Southendown. 

May  I  soon  receive  a  favorable  answer  with  respect  to 
your  health,  spirits,  and  good  intentions  with  respect  to  Lon- 
don and  Hampstead !  Come  and  brighten  the  chain  of 
friendship,  as  the  Indians  say. 

To  Mrs.  Kenrick. 

Hampstead,  1800; 

My  dear  Friend,  —  Whether  or  no  I  ■received  the  letter 
which  you  forgot  to  write,  I  shall  not  tell  you ;  I  only  know 
that  I  am  often  reproached  by  my  correspondents  for  negli- 
gence ;  and  for  the  life  of  me  I  cannot  think  of  anything 
that  has  hindered  the  arrival  of  my  letters,  except  the  cause 
to  which  you  are  inclined  to  attribute  the  failure  of  yours. 
10*  o 


226  LIFE   OF   MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  X. 

Be  that  as  it  may,  I  most  certainly  have  received  from  you 
one  letter  which  has  given  me  a  great  deal  of  pleasure,  and 
for  which  I  will  no  longer  defer  my  affectionate  thanks. 
And  what  shall  I  tell  you  first  1  That  we  are  well,  that  we 
have  rubbed  tolerably  through  the  winter,  and  that  we  have 
been  enjoying  the  sudden  burst  of  spring,  which  clothed  every 
tree  and  every  hedge  in  verdure  with  a  rapidity  seldom  ob- 
served in  our  climate.  The  blossoms  were  all  pushed  out  at 
once,  but  unfortunately  few  have  remained  long  enough  to 
give  the  expectation  of  fruit.  I  fear  it  may  be  the  same  with 
your  beautiful  apple-orchards.  We  often  picture  to  ourselves 
the  beautiful  country,  and  still  oftener  the  affectionate  friends 
and  the  interesting  family  with  whom  we  spent  so  happy  a 
fortDight  last  summer. 

If  all  that  has  happened  had  not  happened,  or  the  memory 
of  it  could  be  washed  away  with  Lethe,  how  usefully  and 
respectably  might  Dr.  Priestley  now  be  placed  at  the  head  of 
the  Eoyal  Institution,  which  is  so  fashionable  just  now  in 
London !  I  went  a  few  mornings  ago  to  hear  Dr.  Garnet, 
who  is  at  present  the  only  lecturer,  and  was  much  pleased  to 
see  a  fashionable  and  very  attentive  audience,  about  one 
third  ladies,  assembled  for  the  purposes  of  science  and  im- 
provement. How  much  is  taught  now,  and  even  made  a 
part  of  education,  which,  when  you  and  I  were  young,  was 
not  even  discovered  !  It  does  some  credit  to  the  taste  of  the 
town,  that  the  Institution  and  the  Bishop  of  London's  lec- 
tures have  been  the  most  fashionable  places  of  resort  this 
winter.     I  have  received,  however,  great  pleasure  lately  from 


1800.]  THE   ROYAL   INSTITUTION.  227 

the  representation  of  De  Montfort,  a  tragedy  which  you  prob- 
ably read  a  year  and  a  half  ago  in  a  volume  entitled  "  A  Series 
of  Plays  on  the  Passions."  I  admired  it  then,  but  little 
dreamed  I  was  indebted  for  my  entertainment  to  a  young 
lady  of  Hampstead  whom  I  visited,  and  who  came  to  Mr. 
Barbauld's  meeting  all  the  while  with  as  innocent  a  face  as 
if  she  had  never  written  a  line.  The  play  is  admirably  acted 
by  Mrs.  Siddons  and  Kemble,  and  is  finely  written,  with 
great  purity  of  sentiment,  beauty  of  diction,  strength  and 
originality  of  character ;  but  it  is  open  to  criticism,  —  I  can- 
not believe  such  a  hatred  natural.  The  affection  between 
the  brother  and  sister  is  most  beautifully  touched,  and,  as 
far  as  I  know,  quite  new.  The  play  is  somewhat  too  good 
for  our  present  taste. 

In  this  letter,  written  to  her  friend  Mrs.  Kenrick,  Mrs. 
Barbauld  speaks  of  Dr.  Priestley,  and  the  unfortunate 
odium  he  had  incurred  by  his  opinions,  which  pre- 
vented his  receiving  an  invitation  to  preside  over  the 
Koyal  Institution,  —  a  position  for  which  his  great  tal- 
ents and  information  well  fitted  him.  This  Institution, 
then  recently  founded  by  Count  Piumford,  was  becom- 
ing exceedingly  popular,  and  continues,  under  its  pres- 
ent able  professors,  to  hold  a  very  high  position  in  the 
scientific  wTorld.  The  names  of  Sir  Humphry  Davy  and 
Professor  Faraday  in  the  past,  of  Professors  Tyndall  and 
Huxley  in  the  present,  give  the  Institution  a  grand  his- 
tory for  the  past  and  a  brilliant  record  for  the  present 


228  LIFE   OF  MES.   BAEBAULD.  [Chap.  X. 

day.  Mrs.  Barbauld,  in  alluding  to  "  all  that  has  hap- 
pened/' referred  to  the  treatment  of  Dr.  Priestley  at  the 
Birmingham  riots,  which  was  caused  by  a  popular  im- 
pression, against  Dr.  Priestley  as  an  advocate  of  revolu- 
tionary and  seditious  opinions.  The  mob,  after  search- 
ing in  a  tavern  where  Dr.  Priestley  had  not  dined  with 
some  factious  agitators  of  treasonable  sentiments,  hunted 
for  him  elsewhere,  crying  out  that  "they  wanted  to 
knock  the  powder  out  of  Dr.  Priestley's  wig."  Finding  he 
was  not  where  they  supposed  him  to  be,  they  proceeded 
to  burn  his  chapel,  and  then  destroyed  his  house,  with 
all  his  valuable  philosophical  instruments,  manuscripts, 
and  library.  He  with  his  family  barely  escaped  with 
their  lives.  All  the  great  and  good  qualities  of  this  justly 
celebrated  man  could  not  save  him  from  suffering  from 
the  consequences  of  his  advanced  state  of  thought  re- 
garding politics,  and  his  rather  radical  religious  opin- 
ions. Though  one  may  not  accord  with  his  political 
bias  or  articles  of  belief,  yet  it  is  ever  to  be  regretted 
by  the  lovers  of  free  inquiry  and  utterance  that  he 
should  have  been  obliged  to  leave  the  country  he  so 
much  loved  for  any  other,  even  though  that  country 
was  the  site  of  a  modern  republic,  and  his  political 
views  must  have  been  gratified  in  his  American  home 
by  the  observation  of  the  earliest  efforts  of  the  founders 
of  our  present  republic,  which  probably  more  nearly 
embodied  his  ideas  of  government  than  any  other  at- 
tempted in  recent  times. 


1800.]  HER  ADDRESS   TO   DR.    PRIESTLEY.  229 

Mrs.  Barbauld,  in  her  characters,  has  one  of  Dr.  Aikin, 
which  is  easily  known  to  the  reader.  That  addressed 
"  Happy  old  man  ! "  contains  the  portrait  of  one  of  the 
trustees  of  the  Warrington  Academy.  Mrs.  Vaughan, 
mother  of  Mr.  Benjamin  Vaughan  of  Bristol,  is  por- 
trayed in  that  description,  — 

"  Such  were  the  dames  of  old  heroic  days, 
Which  faithful  story  yet  delights  to  praise." 

Miss  Aikin,  in  writing  to  Dr.  Channing,  says  of  it : 
"  If  you  will  turn  to  one  of  Mrs.  Barbauld's  characters 
(it  was  written,  by  the  way,  for  the  mother  of  Mr.  Ben- 
jamin Yaughin,  a  grand-looking  old  lady,  whose  figure 
I  still  recall),  you  will  fully  understand  what  kind  of 
spirit  I  longed  to  inspire  into  my  sex."  The  character 
of  Dr.  Priestley  is  the  longest  of  these,  and  really  very 
finely  touched  by  the  hand  of  appreciative  friendship. 
It  begins,  — 

"  Champion  of  Truth,  alike  through  Nature's  field, 
And  where  in  sacred  leaves  she  shines  reveal'd, — 
Alike  in  both,  eccentric,  piercing,  bold, 
Like  his  own  lightnings,  which  no  chains  can  hold  ; 
Neglecting  caution,  and  disdaining  art, 
He  seeks  no  armor  for  a  naked  heart." 

The  character  is  clearly  drawn  and  not  overdone,  as 
the  praise  is  just  and  discriminating. 

Mrs.  Barbauld  addressed  the  following  lines  to  Dr. 
Priestley  some  years  after  this. 


230  LIFE  OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  X. 

To  Dr.  Priestley. 

December  29,  1792. 

Stirs  not  thy  spirit,  Priestley  !  as  the  train 

"With  low  obeisance,  and  with  servile  phrase, 

File  behind  file,  advance,  with  supple  knee, 

And  lay  their  necks  beneath  the  foot  of  power  ? 

Burns  not  thy  cheek  indignant,  when  thy  name, 

On  which  delighted  Science  loved  to  dwell, 

Becomes  the  bandied  theme  of  hooting  crowds  ? 

"With  timid  caution,  or  with  cool  reserve, 

"When  e'en  each  reverend  brother  keeps  aloof, 

Eyes  the  struck  deer,  and  leaves  thy  naked  side 

A  mark  for  Power  to  shoot  at  ?     Let  it  be. 

"  On  evil  days  though  fallen,  and  evil  tongues," 

To  thee  the  slander  of  a  passing  age 

Imports  not.     Scenes  like  these  hold  little  space 

In  his  large  mind,  whose  ample  stretch  of  thought 

Grasps  future  periods.  —  "Well  canst  thou  afford 

To  give  large  credit  for  that  debt  of  fame 

Thy  country  owes  thee.     Calm  thou  canst  consign  it 

To  the  slow  payment  of  that  distant  day,  — 

If  distant,  —  when  thy  name,  to  Freedom's  joined, 

Shall  meet  the  thanks  of  a  regenerate  land. 

In  the  Life  of  Joanna  Baillie  we  read  of  the  curiosity 
felt  by  the  literary  world  as  to  the  authorship  of  the 
"  Plays  of  the  Passions,"  and  the  many  guesses  hazarded 
about  it.  Mrs.  Barbauld  mentions  Miss  Baillie  in  her 
letter  to  Mrs.  Kenrick,  and  tells  her  how  much  amazed 
she  was  at  finding  the  author  was  not  one  of  the 
already  celebrated  writers  to  whom  it  had  been  attrib- 


1800.]  MISS   JOANNA  BAILLIE.  231 

uted,  but  "  a  young  lady  of  Hampstead  whom "  she 
visited,  "and  who  came  to  Mr.  Barbauld's  meeting  all 
the  while  with  as  innocent  a  face  as  if  she  had  never 
written  a  line."  Many  years  later  Mrs.  Barbauld  ad- 
dressed Miss  Baillie  in  her  poem  *  Eighteen  Hundred 
and  Eleven,"  — 

"  —  Then,  loved  Joanna,  to  admiring  eyes, 
Thy  storied  groups  in  scenic  pomp  shall  rise  : 
Their  high-souled  strains  and  Shakespeare's  noble  rage 
Shall  with  alternate  passion  shake  the  stage." 

The  reader  can  fancy  he  sees  Joanna  and  Agnes 
Baillie  making  a  morning  call  on  this  eminent  and 
respected  woman  whose  acquaintance  they  had  formed 
on  moving  to  Hampstead.  Miss  Lucy  Aikin,  in  a 
letter,  describes  the  visit,  and  how  Mrs.  Barbauld 
praised  the  Plays  "  with  all  her  heart."  The  biographer 
of  Miss  Baillie  says  of  Mrs.  Barbauld's  praise,  and  how 
highly  she  was  esteemed,  that  she  "  was  an  excellent 
woman  who  was  raised  to  an  unchallenged  eminence  in 
the  lettered  circles  of  her  own  day,  as  she  is  in  danger 
of  being  undervalued  in  another  generation."  One  can 
imagine  how  pleasant  it  must  have  been  to  the  calm 
and  reserved  young  woman  to  hear  her  book  so  high- 
ly approved  of  and  justly  commented  on  by  a  per- 
son whose  judgment  was  so  valuable  and  impartial. 
Miss  Aikin  says  in  one  part  of  her  own  Eecollections 
of  Joanna  Baillie,  "  I  well  remember  the  scene,  —  she 


232  LIFE   OF   MRS.    BARBAULD.  [Chap.  X. 

and  her  sister  arrived  on  a  morning  call  at  Mrs. 
Barbauld's ;  ray  annt  immediately  introduced  the  topic 
of  the  anonymous  tragedies,  and  gave  utterance  to  her 
admiration  with  the  generous  delight  in  the  manifesta- 
tions of  kindred  genius  which  distinguished  her."  "  The 
sudden  delight "  which  Miss  Aikin  thinks  must  have 
been  felt  by  the  author  of  the  tragedies  at  hearing  this 
entirely  spontaneous  tribute  and  discriminating  crit- 
icism did  not  move  Joanna  Baillie  from  her  stern  com- 
posure; and  Mrs.  Barbauld  must  have  learned  from 
others  the  authorship  of  the  Plays  which  she  alluded 
to  in  her  letter,  where  she  tells  Mrs.  Kenrick  of  witness- 
ing the  representation  of  one  of  them,  De  Montfort, 
which  was  then  being  personated  in  its  leading  char- 
acters by  Mrs.  Siddons  and  Kemble. 

Hampstead,  October,  1801. 
My  dear  Mrs.  Carr,  —  Though  I  hope  the  time  ap- 
proaches when  we  shall  be  within  reach  of  one  another  again, 
I  feel  the  want  of  our  accustomed  intercourse  too  strongly 
not  to  wish  to  supply  it  in  some  manner  by  a  letter.  Be- 
sides, I  want  to  wish  you  joy  on  the  peace,  which  came  at 
last  so  unexpectedly,  and  almost  overwhelmed  us  with  the 
good  news.  We  have  hardly  done  illuminating  and  boun- 
cing and  popping  upon  the  occasion.  The  spontaneous  joy 
and  mutual  congratulations  of  all  ranks  show  plainly  what 
were  the  wishes  of  the  people,  though  they  dared  not  declare 
them.     And  now  France  lies  like  a  huge  loadstone  on  the 


1801.]  CORRESPONDENCE.  233 

other  side  the  Channel,  and  will  draw  every  mother's  child 
of  us  to  it.  Those  who  know  French  are  refreshing  their 
memories,  —  those  who  do  not,  are  learning  it ;  and  every 
one  is  planning  in  some  way  or  other  to  get  a  sight  of  the 
promised  land. 

Our  Hampstead  neighbors  are  returning  to  us  from  the 
lakes,  and  the  sea,  and  the  ends  of  the  earth.  I  have  been 
puzzling  myself  to  account  for  this  universal  disposition 
amongst  us  to  migrate  at  a  certain  time  of  the  year  and 
change  our  way  of  life ;  and  I  have  been  fancying  that  we 
English  lie  under  the  same  spell  which  the  fairies  are  said  to 
do,  —  by  which  during  a  month  every  year  they  are  obliged 
to  be  transformed,  and  to  wander  about  exposed  to  adven- 
tures. So  some  of  our  nymphs  are  turned  into  butterflies 
for  the  season,  others  into  Xaiads,  and  sport  about  till  the 
sober  months  come,  when  they  resume  their  usual  appear- 
ance and  occupation  of  notable  housewives,  perhaps  in  Cheap- 
side  or  the  Borough.  As  to  you,  you  carry  your  cares  with 
you,  and  therefore  must  be  pretty  much  the  same,  except  the 
dripping  locks  of  the  Xaiad ;  but  Sarah,  I  imagine,  is  at  this 
moment  skimming  -along  the  shore  like  a  swallow,  or  walk- 
ing with  naked  feet  like  a  slender  heron  in  the  water,  or  nes- 
tling among  the  cliffs.     Wherever  she  is,  my  love  to  her. 

In  a  letter  from  Dr.  Aikin  to  his  sister,  there  is  a 
short  description  of  a  trip  he  made  to  their  birthplace 
and  early  home.  It  is  dated  July  7,  1800.  "  Would 
yon  have  thought  me,  my  dear  sister,  a  likely  man  for 


234  LIFE  OF  MRS.    BARBAULD.  [Chap.  X. 

such  a  flight  of  sentiment,  as  that,  being  about  forty 
miles  from  Kibworth,  I  could  not  forbear  to  visit  it  ? 
In  fact,  it  had  long  been  the  subject  of  my  waking  and 
sleeping  thoughts,  especially  of  the  latter,  and  I  was 
resolved  to  give  way  to  the  impulse.     So  yesterday  I 

left  S 's,  mounted  on  his  old  mare,  which  I  had 

tried  before  in  a  couple  of  short  excursions,  and 
boldly  pushed  on  for  Kettering,  twenty-seven  miles, 
that  evening.  This  morning,  starting  early,  I  came  to 
Harborough  to  breakfast,  and  thence,  with  beating 
heart,  the  five  miles  to  Kibworth."  After  a  long  account 
of  the  changes  which  he  observed,  he  adds,  "  I  found 
that  I  had  no  acquaintance  living  at  Kibworth ;  so, 
mounting  again,  I  made  a  slow  circuit  quite  through 
the  town,  which  I  found  vastly  lessened  in  my  eyes; 
yet  our  old  house  still  makes  a  respectable  figure. 
It  is  inhabited  by  the  widow  Humphreys.  The  case- 
ment window  and  balcony  remain  as  before 

"  I  made  a  complete  tour  of  the  churchyard,  and 
recognized  many  familiar  names  among  the  tombs,  but 
was  disappointed  in  not  meeting  with  that  of  our  grand- 
father. Had  he  a  monument  ?  There  were  several 
become  illegible  through  a  coating  of  moss 

"  Such  has  been  my  visit  to  my  native  village.  I  am 
not  sorry  I  made  it,  though  I  scarcely  know  whether 
to  call  the  impression  on  the  whole  agreeable  or  other- 
wise." 


1801.]  THE   ISLE   OF  WIGHT.  235 

The  following  letter  to  Mrs.  Carr  contains  a  descrip- 
tion of  a  trip  made  by  the  Barbaulds  to  the  Isle  of 
"Wight,  which  Mrs.  Barbauld  says  she  thinks  Bonaparte 
might  like  for  some  of  his  numerous  family  as  a  king- 
dom. At  this  time  the  English  felt  there  was  a  pros- 
pect' of  invasion  from  the  French,  and  made  many 
preparations  to  meet  such  an  attack.  But  the  disaffected 
classes  at  home  were  also  a  cause  of  anxiety,  as  it  was 
doubtful  how  they  would  behave  in  the  event  of  such 
an  occurrence. 

Southampton,  July  10. 
My  dear  Mrs.  Carr,  —  Have  you  ever  seen  the  Isle  of 
Wight  ]  If  not,  you  have  not  seen  the  prettiest  place  in  the 
king's  dominions.  It  is  such  a  charming  little  island !  In 
this  great  island,  which  we  set  foot  on  half  an  hour  ago,  the 
sea  is  at  such  a  distance  from  the  greater  part  of  it,  that  you 
have  no  more  acquaintance  with  it  than  if  you  were  in  the 
heart  of  Germany ;  and  even  on  the  coast,  England  appears 
no  more  an  island  to  the  eye  than  France  does  ;  but  in  this 
little  gem  of  the  ocean  called  the  Isle  of  Wight  you  see  and 
feel  you  are  on  an  island  every  moment.  The  great  ocean 
becomes  quite  domestic  ;  you  see  it  from  every  point  of  view  ; 
you  have  it  on  the  right  hand,  you  look  and  you  have  it  on 
the  left  also  ;  you  see  both  sides  of  the  island  at  once,  —  you 
look  into  every  creek  and  corner  of  it,  which  produces  a  new 
and  singular  feeling.  We  have  taken  three  different  rides 
upon  and  under  high  cliffs,  cornfields,  and  villages  down  to 


236  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  X. 

the  water's  edge,  and  a  fine  West  India  fleet  in  view,  with 
the  sails  all  spread,  and  her  convoy  most  majestically  sailing 
by  her.  We  saw  Lord  Dysart's  seat,  and  Sir  Eichard  Woia- 
ley's  :  at  the  former  there  is  a  seat  in  the  rock  which  shuts 
out  every  object  bnt  the  shoreless  ocean,  for  it  looks  to- 
wards France  :  at  the  latter  there  is  an  attempt  at  an  English 
vineyard ;  the  vines  are  planted  on  terraces  one  above  an- 
other. Another  day's  excursion  was  to  the  JSTeedles ;  we 
walked  to  the  very  point,  the  toe  of  the  island  ;  the  sea-gulls 
were  flying  about  the  rocks  like  bees  from  a  hive,  and  little 
fleets  of  puffins  with  their  black  heads  in  the  water.  Allum 
Bay  looks  like  a  wall  of  marble  veined  with  different  colors. 
The  freshness  of  the  sea-air,  and  the  beauty  of  the  smooth 
turf  of  the  downs  on  which  we  rode  or  walked,  was  inex- 
pressibly pleasing.  The  next  day  we  visited  the  north  side 
of  the  island,  richly  wooded  down  to  the  water's  edge,  and 
rode  home  over  a  high  down  with  the  sea  on  both  sides  and 
a  rich  country  between,  the  corn  beginning  to  acquire  the 
tinge  of  harvest-time.  In  short,  I  do  believe  that  if  Buona- 
parte were  to  see  the  Isle  of  Wight,  he  would  think  it  a  very 
pretty  appanage  for  some  third  or  fourth  cousin,  and  would 
make  him  king  of  it  —  if  he  could  get  it. 


1802.]  REMOVAL   TO    XEAVIXGTON.  237 


CHAPTER    XI. 

Removal  of  the  Barbaulds  to  Stoke  Newington.  —  Cause  of  it.  — 
Lines  to  Mrs.  Barbauld  by  Dr.  Aikln.  —  History  of  the  Chapel. 

—  Letters.  —  The  Annual  Review.  —  Mrs.  Barbauld  edits  with 
Essay  a  "Selection."  — Miss  Aikin's  Opinion  about  this  Essay. 

—  Diary  of  Mr.  Robinson,  and  his  Introduction  to  Mrs.  Bar- 
bauld.—  Wordsworth's  Admiration  of  "Life."  —  His  Remarks 
about  Mrs.  Barbauld.  —Sir  Henry  Holland's  Recollections 
of  Newington  Society  and  Mrs.  Barbauld.  —  She  writes  the 
"Life  of  Richardson." —Anecdotes  about  it.  —  Miss  Aikin's 
Letters.  —  Anecdotes.  —  Mr.  Barbauld's  Death.  —  His  Char- 
acter, by  Mrs.  Barbauld. 

IN  the  year  1802,  Mr.  Barbauld  accepted  the  position 
of  pastor  to  the  society  of  Newington  Green,  which 
had  formerly  been  Dr.  Price's.  Their  reason  for  leaving 
Hampstead  and  the  numerous  friends  there  to  whom 
they  were  warmly  attached,  the  pleasant  home  and 
circle  of  literary  and  cultivated  people  who  were  their 
neighbors,  was  the  wish  which  had  long  been  felt  and 
expressed  by  Mrs.  Barbauld  and  her  brother  that  they 
might  live  nearer  each  other,  so  that  they  could  meet 
daily.  Dr.  Aikin  having  been  for  some  little  time  a 
resident  of  Stoke  Newington,  decided  them  in  favor  of 
Mr.  Barbauld's  accepting  this  call,  which  would  insure 


238  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BAKBAULD.  [Chap.  XI. 

them  the  wished-for  arrangement.  Dr.  Aikin  suffered 
very  much  from  ill  health,  and  was  finally  forced  to 
abandon  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  London,  and 
confine  himself  almost  exclusively  to  the  literary  pur- 
suits which  have  given  him  a  good  reputation  for  taste 
and  study.  For  the  purer  air  and  more  perfect  rest  he 
removed  to  Stoke  Newington  in  1798,  and  the  addition 
to  his  society  made  by  the  presence  of  his  sister  and 
Mr.  Barbauld  was  exceedingly  gratifying  to  him.  They 
had  many  friends  around  them,  and  amid  literary 
pursuits  and  social  intercourse  with  congenial  minds 
found  much  to  cheer  and  brighten-  their  declining 
years. 

In  the  poetical  epistle  addressed  by  Dr.  Aikin  to  his 
sister  at  Geneva,  from  which  some  lines  have  already 
been  quoted,  the  following  are  taken ;  they  very  strong- 
ly breathe  the  wish  now  fulfilled  by  the  Barbaulds,  re- 
moval to  Newington.     He  says,  — 

"Yet  one  dear  wish  still  struggles  in  my  breast, 
And  points  one  darling  object  unpossest :  — 
How  many  years  have  whirled  their  rapid  course, 
Since  we,  sole  streamlets  from  an  honored  source, 
In  fond  affection  as  in  blood  allied, 
Have  wandered  devious  from  each  other's  side  ; 
'Allowed  to  catch  alone  some  transient  view, 
Scarce  long  enough  to  think  the  vision  true  ! 
0  then,  while  yet  some  zest  to  life  remains, 
"While  transport  yet  can  swell  the  beating  veins, 


1802.]  REMOVAL   TO   NEWINGTON.  239 

While  sweet  remembrance  keeps  her  wonted  seat, 
And  fancy  still  retains  some  genial  heat ; 
•    "When  evening  bids  each  busy  task  be  o'er,  — 
Once  let  us  meet  again  to  part  no  more  !  " 

The  village  of  Stoke  Newington  was  very,  rural  when 
the  Barbaulds  removed  there,  and  even  now,  though 
much  more  populous,  still  retains  something  of  its 
early  aspect.  William  Howitt,  in  "The  Northern 
Heights  of  London,"  says  of  the  Green,  "  It  is  one  of 
the  oldest  places  of  the  parish,  and  has  had  ancient 
houses  and  distinguished  inhabitants.  It  had,  till  of 
late  years,  a  still,  out-of-the-way  look,  surrounded  in 
most  parts  by  large  old  trees,  and  green  lanes  led  to  it 
on  all  sides.  Population  and  houses  have  now  crowded 
up  to  it  on  all  sides."  For  the  most  part  the  hamlet 
of  Stoke  Newington  lies  in  the  parish  of  Islington,  and 
it  is  rather  to  the  north  of  London.  Now  it  is  a  part 
of  the  great  metropolis.  "The  Presbyterian  Chapel  at 
Newington  Green,  which  dates  from  1708,  has  a  history 
of  considerable  interest,"  says  Mr.  Howitt.  "  Like  most 
other  Presbyterian  Chapels  in  England,  it  found  its  con- 
gregation go  over  at  a  particular  crisis  to  Unitarianism, 
to  which  it  still  adheres.  It  has  had  a  succession  of  able 
ministers,  some  of  whom  are  of  world-wide  notoriety." 
And  among  these  celebrated  names  he  mentions  those 
of  Dr.  Price  and  Mr.  Eochemont  Barbauld.  In  the 
graveyard  of  the  chapel  are  buried  Dr.  Price  and  Mr. 


240  LIFE   OF   MRS.    BARBAULD.  [Chap.  XI. 

and  Mrs.  Barbauld,  with-  other  members  of  the  society. 
An  aged  survivor  of  the  society  remembers  well  the 
face  and  figure  of  Mrs.  Barbauld,  and  still  shows  her 
pew  in  the  chapel,  where  there  are  two  mural  tablets, 
one  commemorative  of  Dr.  Price,  the  second  of  Mrs. 
Barbauld.  The  following  letter  is  the  first  to  be  copied 
which  is  dated  from  the  Barbaulds'  new  home.  In  it 
one  traces  something  of  the  over-shadowing  anxiety 
which  the  state  of  Mr.  Barbauld's  health  must  have 
caused  to  the  affectionate  heart  of  Mrs.  Barbauld.  One 
contemporary  writer  speaks  of  Mr.  Barbauld,  when  in 
early  life,  as  "a  queer  little  man,"  and  in  his  later 
years  the  peculiarities  of  his  mind  became  extremely 
marked.  For  several  years  he  was  extremely  excitable, 
and  showed  some  eccentricities  of  conduct  which  in- 
creased upon  him  to  the  fatal  termination  of  his  life. 
Mrs.  Barbauld  must  have  exercised  much  self-control 
and  firmness  to  have  busied  herself,  under  these  trying 
circumstances,  in  various  literary  labors. 

Stoke  Newtngton,  January  14,  1802. 
My  dear  Mrs.  Beecroft,  —  Why   have  I   not  written 
to  you  1     Ah,  why  indeed  !     I  wish  you  would  furnish  me 
with  a  good  reason.     Long  ago  I  should  have  done  it,  it  is 

true And  pray  when  do  you  and  the  lovely and 

go  to  France  1  for  I  take  it  for  granted  that  you  go ; 

and   indeed   you   ought   to   go  :  for  who  would  reap  more 
amusement  and  information,  or  communicate  more  of  it  to 


1803.]  CORRESPONDENCE.  241 

your  friends,  than  yourself]     I  met  with  three  of  the  tourists 

lately.     Mr. ,  who  was  formerly  a  Grecian,  is  turned 

Egyptian  :  the  Egyptians  are  the  first  people  in  the  world, 
the  tutors  of  the  Greeks   and  the  inventors  of  all  arts  and 

sciences.     Mr. deals   in  aneccTotes  and  manners ;  and 

Mrs. seems  to  have  felt  most  enthusiasm  for  the  great 

man.  My  enthusiasm  is  all  gone,  —  not  for  Buonaparte,  for 
with  regard  to  him  I  never  had  any,  —  but  for  most  things. 
I  wish  there  were  any  process,  electric,  galvanic,  or  through 
any  other  medium,  by  which  we  might  recover  some  of  the 
fine  feelings  which  age  is  so  apt  to  blunt :  it  wrould  be  the 
true  secret  of  growing  young.  One  affection,  however,  I 
hope  will  never  die  in  my  heart,  —  the  dear  affection  of  friend- 
ship. 

To  Mrs.  Smith. 

Stoke  Newington,  February  26,  1803. 

Dear  Madam,  —  It  would  have  given  me  great  pleasure 
to  have  been  among  those  friends  who  crowd  about  you  to 
congratulate  your  arrival  again  on  English  ground ;  but  the 
distance  first,  the  severity  of  the  weather,  and  then  indispo- 
sition consequent  upon  it,  prevent  my  having  that  pleasure. 
I  cannot  content  myself,  however,  without  writing  a  line  to 
welcome  you  all  home.  "We  hear  you  have  been  very  much 
pleased  with  Paris,  which  indeed  was  to  be  expected.  The 
canvas  people  and  the  marble  people  must  be  sufficient  to 
make  a  rich  voyage  of  it,  even  if  the  French  people  had  not 
opened  their  mouths 

"We  are  apt  to  accuse  some  of  you  travellers  of  bringing  us 
11  p 


242  LIFE  OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  XI. 

over  an  influenza  from  Paris,  softened  indeed  in  passing  over 
the  Channel,  but  severe  enough  to  set  us  all  a:coughing.  "We 
try  to  amuse  ourselves,  however,  with  reading ;  and  among 
other  things  have  been  greatly  amused  and  interested  with 
Hayley's  Life  of  Cowper,  which  I  would  much  advise  you  ta 
read  if  it  comes  in  your  way.  Hayley,  indeed,  has  very  lit- 
tle merit  in  it,  for  it  is  a  collection  of  letters  with  a  very 
slender  thread  of  biography ;  but  many  of  the  letters  are 
charming,  particularly  to  his  relation,  Lady  Hesketh  ;  and 
there  is  one  poem  to  his  Mary,  absolutely  the  most  pathetic 
piece  that  ever  was  written.  "We  have  also  read,  as  I  sup- 
pose you  have  done,  Madame  de  Stael's  Delphine.  Her  pen 
has  more  of  Eousseau  than  any  author  that  has  appeared  for 
a  long  time.  I  suppose  you  have  heard  it  canvassed  and 
criticised  at  Paris 

To  Mrs.  Beecroft. 

July  28,  1803. 
I  am  glad  to  find  you  have  spent  the  spring  so  pleasantly. 
But  when  you  say  you  made  the  excursion  instead  of  coming 
to  London,  you  forget  that  you  might  have  passed  the  latter 
end  of  a  London  winter  in  town  after  enjoying  the  natural 
spring  in  the  country.  "We  have  been  spending  a  week  at 
Eichmond,  in  the  delightful  shades  of  Ham  walks  and  Twick- 
enham meadows.  I  never  saw  so  many  flowering  limes  and 
weeping-willows  as  in  that  neighborhood  :  they  say,  you 
know,  that  Pope's  famous  willow  was  the  first  in  the  country  ; 
and  it  seems  to  corroborate  it,  that  there  are  so  many  in  the 
vicinity.     Under  the  shade  of  the  trees  we  read  Southey's 


1803.]  CORRESPONDENCE.  243 

Amadis,  which  I  suppose  you  are  also  reading.  As  all  Eng- 
lishmen are  now  to  turn  knights-errant  and  fight  against  the 
great  giant  and  monster  Buonaparte,  the  publication  seems 
very  seasonable.  Pray,  are  you  an  alarmist]  One  hardly 
knows  whether  to  be  frightened  or  diverted  on  seeing  people 
assembled  at  a  dinner-table,  appearing  to  enjoy  extremely 
the  fare  and  the  company,  and  saying  all  the  while,  with  a 
most  smiling  and  placid  countenance,  that  the  French  are  to 
land  in  a  fortnight,  and  that  London  is  to  be  sacked  and 
plundered  for  three  days,  —  and  then  they  talk  of  going  to 
watering-places.  I  am  sure  we  do  not  believe  in  the  danger 
we  pretend  to  believe  in ;  and  I  am  sure  that  none  of  us  can 
even  form  an  idea  how  we  should  feel  if  we  were  forced  to 
believe  it.  I  wish  I  could  lose  in  the  quiet  walks  of  litera- 
ture all  thoughts  of  the  present  state  of  the  political  horizon. 
My  brother  is  going  to  publish  "  Letters  to  a  Young  Lady 
on  English  Poetry  " ;  he  is  indefatigable.  "  I  wish  you 
were  half  as  diligent !  "  say  you.  "  Amen,"  say  I.  Love  to 
Eliza  and  Laura,  and  thank  the  former  for  her  note.  I  shall 
always  be  glad  to  hear  from  either  of  them.  How  delight- 
ful must  be  the  soft  beatings  of  a  heart  entering  into  the 
world  for  the  first  time,  —  every  surrounding  object  new,  fresh, 
and  fair,  all  smiling  within  and  without !  Long  may  every 
sweet  illusion  continue,  that  promotes  happiness,  and  ill  be- 
fall the  rough  hand  that  would  destroy  them  ! 

In   1802,  Mr.  Arthur  Aikin,  the  son  of  Dr.  John 
Aikin,  Mrs.  Barbauld's  brother,  undertook  the  care  and 


244  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  XI. 

editorship  of  the  "  Annual  Review,"  an  excellent  work 
which  unfortunately  met  with  little  encouragement, 
and  the  enterprise  was  abandoned  in  1808.  Mrs.  Bar- 
bauld  "  reluctantly  took  part  of  the  poetry  and  polite 
literature  in  one  or  two  of  the  earliest  volumes,  and 
gave  that  critique  on  the  '  Lay/  which  the  author  said 
he  had  approved  and  admired  the  most,"  says  Miss 
Aikin  in  writing  to  a  friend  and  alluding  to  the  pleas- 
ant acquaintance  between  Sir  Walter  Scott  and  her 
aunt.  One  writer  in  speaking  of  the  queens  of  London 
society,  Mrs.  Montague  and  others,  says  of  Mrs.  Barbauld, 
who  is  named  among  them,  that  at  this  time  she  "  was 
laying  down  the  sceptre  and  consenting  to  be  private  and 
homely."  Mrs.  Barbauld  never  made  .any  pretensions 
to  rule  in  her  sphere.  To  her  the  republic  of  letters 
was  real,  and  she  was  a  firm  believer  in  the  equality  of 
man  and  a  state  of  freedom.  All  her  writings  prove 
her  reasonable  hope  and  belief  in  human  progress,  and 
manifest  a  great  degree  of  modesty.  To  have  dis- 
claimed her  position  in  the  world  of  letters  would  have 
been  affectation,  but  she  never  claimed  what  was  not 
offered  her.  The  next  letter  in  order  describes  a  visit 
to  Tunbridge  Wells,  to  Miss  Taylor  of  Norwich,  after- 
wards Mrs.  Eeeve. 

Tunbridge  Wells,  August  11,  1804. 
I  may  call  you  dear  Susan,  may  not  1 1  for  I  can  love  you, 
if  not  better,  yet  more  familiarly  and  at  my  ease,  under  that 


1804.]  TUNBRIDGE   WELLS.  245 

appellation  than  under  the  more  formal  one  of  Miss  Taylor, 
though  you  have  now  a  train  to  your  gown,  and  are,  I  sup- 
pose, at  Norwich  invested  with  all  the  rights  of  womanhood. 
I  have  many  things  to  thank  you  for  :  —  in  the  first  place,  for 
a  charming  letter,  which  has  both  amused  and  delighted  us. 
In  the  next  place,  I  have  to  thank  you  for  a  very  elegant 
veil,  which  is  very  beautiful  in  itself,  and  receives  great  ad- 
ditional value  from  being  the  work  of  your  ingenious  fingers. 
I  have  brought  it  here  to  parade  with  upon  the  Pantiles, 
being  by  much  the  smartest  part  of  my  dress.  0  that  you 
were  here,  Susan,  to  exhibit  upon  a  donhy,  — I  cannot  tell 
whether  my  orthography  is  right,  but '  a  donky  is  the  mon- 
ture  in  high  fashion  here ;  and  I  assure  you,  when  covered 
with  blue  housings,  and  sleek,  it  makes  no  bad  figure  :  —  I 
mean  a  lady,  if  an  elegant  woman,  makes  no  bad  figure  upon 
it,  with  a  little  boy  or  girl  behind,  who  carries  a  switch, 
meant  to  admonish  the  animal  from  time  to  time  that  he  is 
hired  to  walk  on,  and  not  to  stand  still.  The  ass  is  much 
better  adapted  than  the  horse  to  show  off  a  lady ;  for  this 
reason,  which  perhaps  may  not  have  occurred  to  you,  that 
her  beauty  is  not  so  likely  to  be  eclipsed  :  for  you  must  know 

that  many  philosophers,  amongst  whom  is ,  are  decidedly 

of  opinion  that  a  fine  horse  is  a  much  handsomer  animal  than 
a  fine  woman ;  but  I  have  not  yet  heard  such  a  preference 
asserted  in  favor  of  the  ass,  —  not  our  English  asses  at  least, 

—  a  fine  Spanish  one,  or  a  zebra,  perhaps 

It  is  the  way  to  subscribe  for  everything  here,  —  to  the  li- 
brary, etc.  ;  and  among  other  things  we  were  asked  on  the 


246  LIFE  OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  XL 

Pantiles  to  subscribe  for  eating  fruit  as  we  pass  backwards 
and  forwards.  "How  much]"  "  Half-a-crown."  "But 
for  how  long  a  timer'  "As  long  as  you  please."  "But  I 
should  soon  eat  half-a-crown's-worth  of  fruit."  "  0,  you  are 
upon  honor  ! " 

There  are  pleasant  walks  on  the  hills  here,  and  picturesque 
views  of  the  town,  which,  like  Bath,  is  seen  to  advantage  by 
lying  in  a  hollow.  It  bears  the  marks  of  having  been  long  a 
place  of  resort,  from  the  number  of  good  and  rather  old-built 
houses,  —  all  let  for  lodgings  ;  and  shady  walks,  and  groves 
of  old  growth.  The  sides  of  many  of  the  houses  are  covered 
with  tiles ;  but  the  Pantiles,  which  you  may  suppose  I  saw 
with  some  interest,  are  now  paved  with  freestone. 

We  were  interested  in  your  account  of  Cambridge,  and 
glad  you  saw  not  only  buildings,  but  men.  With  a  mind 
prepared  as  yours  is,  how  much  pleasure  have  you  to  enjoy 
from  seeing  !  That  all  your  improvements  may  produce  you 
pleasure,  and  all  your  pleasures  tend  to  improvement,  is  the 

Your  ever  affectionate. 

In  1804,  Mrs.  Barbauld  was  able  to  devote  herself 
sufficiently  to  literary  labors  to  offer  a  "Selection  from 
the  Spectator,  Tatler,  Guardian,  and  Freeholder,"  with 
an  Essay  on  the  genius,  thoughts,  and  style  of  the 
writers  whose  papers  she  thus  edited.  This  Essay  added 
greatly  to  the  value  of  the  book.  Though  it  has  been 
regarded  by  many  competent  authorities  as,  perhaps,  her 
best  piece  of  literary  labor  in  the  critical  and  discrim- 


1801]  HER   ESSAY   ON   THE   ESSAYISTS.  247 

inating  study  of  the  writings  and  beauties  of  the  great 
English  authors  chosen,  I  have  not  included  it  aruonsr 
the  prose  essays  in  this  selection  of  her  works,  as  it 
cannot  properly  be  separated  from  the  Selection  to 
which  it  serves  as  an  introduction  and  a  study,  and  of 
which  it  is  a  masterly  review.  It  makes  the  reader 
well  acquainted  with  the  salient  points  of  character, 
the  distinguishing  marks  of  genius,  and  the  peculiar- 
ities of  style  of  the  various  authors  whose  works  are 
included  in  the  Selection. 

Miss  Lucy  Aikin  has  so  well  represented  the  merit 
of  this  Essay  as  a  critical  analysis  of  the  writers  Mrs. 
Barbauld  had  studied,  that  her  own  words  best  convey 
her  thoughts  about  her  aunt's  performance.  She  says 
of  it :  *  This  delightful  piece  may  perhaps  be  regarded 
as  the  most  successful  of  her  efforts  in  literary  criticism, 
and  that  it  should  be  so  is  easily  accounted  for.  There 
were  many  striking  points  of  resemblance  between  her 
genius  and  that  of  Addison  As  prose  writers,  both 
were  remarkable  for  uniting  wit  of  the  light  and 
sportive  kind  with  vividness  of  fancy,  and  a  style  at 
once  rich  and  lively,  flowing  and  full  of  idiom ;  both  of 
them  rather  avoided  the  pathetic ;  in  both,  the  senti- 
ments of  rational  and  liberal  devotion  were  blended 
with  the  speculations  of  philosophy  and  the  paintings  of 
a  fine  imagination  ;  both  were  admirable  for  the  splen- 
dor they  diffused  over  a  serious,  the  grace  with  which 


248  LIFE   OF  MRS.    BARBAULD.  [Chap.  XI. 

they  touched  a  lighter,  subject The  humorous 

delineation  of  manners  and  characters,  indeed,  in  which 
Addison  so  conspicuously  shone,  was  never  attempted 
by  Mrs.  Barbauld;  in  poetry,  on  the  other  hand,  she 
surpassed  him  in  all  the  qualities  of  which  excellence 
in  that  style  is  composed.  Certainly  this  great  author 
could  not  elsewhere  have  found  a  critic  so  capable  of 
entering,  as  it  were,  into  the  soul  of  his  writings,  cull- 
ing their  choicest  beauties,  and  drawing  them  forth  for 
the  admiration  of  a  world  by  which  they  had  begun 
to  be  neglected.  Steele  and  the  other  contributors  to 
these  periodical  papers  are  also  ably,  though  briefly, 
characterized  by  her;  and  such  pieces  of  theirs  are 
included  in  the  'Selection'  as  could  fairly  claim  en- 
during remembrance." 

The  Essay  opens  with  the  observation,  "  that  it  is 
equally  true  of  books  as  of  their  authors,  that  one  gen- 
eration passeth  away  and  another  cometh."  The  mutual 
influence  exerted  by  books  and  manners  on  each  other 
is  then  remarked ;  and  the  silent  and  gradual  declension 
from  what  might  be  called  the  active  life  of  an  admired 
and  popular  book  to  the  honorable  retirement  of  a 
classic  is  highly  but  impressively  traced ;  closed  by 
remarks  on  the  mutations  and  improvements  which 
have  particularly  affected  the  works  in  question. 

In  the  Diary  of  Mr.  H.  C.  Eobinson,  the  following 
interesting  reminiscences  of  his  first  introduction   to 


1804.]  VISIT   OF   H.   C.   ROBINSON.  249 

and  friendship  for  Mrs.  Barbauld  will  attract  the  atten- 
tion of  the  reader.  In  the  first  entry  under  the  year 
1805,  after  her  return  to  England,  he  writes,  "  In  De- 
cember I  formed  a  new  acquaintance,  of  which  I  was 
reasonably  proud,  and  in  the  recollection  of  which  I 
still  rejoice.  At  Hackney  I  saw  repeatedly  Miss  Wake- 
field,* a  charming  girl.  And  one  day  at  a  party,  when 
Mrs.  Barbauld  had  been  the  subject  of  conversation, 
and  I  had  spoken  of  her  in  enthusiastic  terms,  Miss 
Wakefield  came  to  me,  and  said,  'Would  you  like  to 
know  Mrs.  Barbauld  ? '  I  exclaimed,  '  You  might  as 
well  ask  me  whether  I  should  like  to  know  the  Angel 
Gabriel ! '  '  Mrs.  Barbauld  is,  however,  more  accessible. 
I  will  introduce  you  to  her  nephew.'  She  then  called 
to  Charles  Aikin,  whom  she  soon  after  married ;  and 
he  said:  'I  dine  every  Sunday  with  my  uncle  and 
aunt  at  Stoke  Newington,  and  I  am  expected  always  to 
bring  a  friend  with  me.  Two  knives  and  forks  are  laid 
for  me.  Will  you  go  with  me  next  Sunday  ? '  Gladly 
acceding  to  the  proposal,  I  had  the  good  fortune  to 
make  myself  agreeable,  and  soon  became  intimate  in 
the  house. 

"  Mr.  Barbauld  had  a  slim  figure,  a  meagre  face,  and  a 
shrill  voice.  He  talked  a  great  deal,  and  was  fond  of 
dwelling  on  controversial  points  in  religion.  He  was 
by  no  means  destitute  of  ability,  though  the  afflictive 

*  Daughter  of  Gilbert  Wakefield. 
11* 


250  LIFE   OF   MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  XI. 

disease  was  lurking  in  him,  which  in  a  few  years  broke 
out,  and,  as  is  well  known,  caused  a  sad  termination  to 
his  life. 

"Mrs.  Barbauld  bore  the  remains  of  great  personal 
beauty.  She  had  a  brilliant  complexion,  light  hair, 
blue  eyes,  a  small,  elegant  figure,  and  her  manners  were 
very  agreeable,  with  something  of  the  generation  then 
departing.  She  received  me  very  kindly,  spoke  very 
civilly  of  my  aunt,  Zachary  Crabbe,  and  said  she  had 
herself  once  slept  at  my  father's  house.  Mrs.  Barbauld 
is  so  well  known  by  her  prose  writings  that  it  is  need- 
less for  me  to  attempt  to  characterize  her  here.  Her 
excellence  lay  in  the  soundness  and  acuteness  of  her 
understanding,  and  in  the  perfection  of  her  taste.  In 
the  estimation  of  Wordsworth  she  was  the  first  of  our 
literary  women,  and  he  was  not  bribed  to  this  judgment 
by  any  especial  congeniality  of  feeling,  or  by  concurrence 
in  speculative  opinions.  I  may  here  relate  an  anecdote 
concerning  her  and  Wordsworth,  though  out  of  its 
proper  time  by  many,  many  years ;  but  it  is  so  good 
that  it  ought  to  be  preserved  from  oblivion.  It  was 
after  her  death  that  Lucy  Aikin  published  Mrs.  Bar- 
bauld's  collected  works,  of  which  I  gave  a  copy  to  Miss 
Wordsworth.  Among  the  poems  is  a  stanza  on  Life, 
written  in  extreme  old  age.  It  had  delighted  my  sister, 
to  whom  I  repeated  it  on  her  death-bed.  It  was  long 
after  I  gave  these  works  to  Miss  Wordsworth  that  her 


1S04.]  H.    C.    ROBINSON.  251 

brother  said,  '  Eepeat  me  that  stanza  by  Mrs.  Bar- 
bauld.'  I  did  so.  He  made  me  repeat  it  again.  And 
so  he  learned  it  by  heart.  He  was  at  the  time  walking 
in  his  sitting-room  at  Bydal,  with  hands  behind  him ; 
1  heard  him  mutter  to  himself,  '  I  am  not  in  the  habit 
of  grudging  other  people  their  good  things,  but  I  wish 
I  had  written  those  lines/  and  repeated  to  himself  the 
stanza  w^hich  I  have  already  quoted, 

'Life  we  've  been  long  together,"  etc. 

In  naming  a  number  of  poetesses,  Wordsworth  him- 
self, in  writing  to  Mr.  Dyce  in  1830,  put  Mrs.  Barbauld 
at  the  head  of  the  list.  He  mentions  Helen  Maria 
"Williams,  Charlotte  Smith,  Anna  Seward,  and  others, 
and  adds  of  Mrs.  Barbauld,  that,  "  with  much  higher 
powers  of  mind,"  she  "was  spoiled  as  a  poetess  by 
being  a  Dissenter,  and  concerned  with  a  Dissenting 

Academy One  of  the  most  pleasing  passages  in 

her  poetry  is  the  close  of  the  lines  of  '  Life,'  written, 
I  believe,  when  she  was  not  less  than  eighty  years  of 
age,"  and  he  quotes  it  to  his  friend.  "  He  much  admired 
Mrs.  Barbauld' s  Essays,  and  sent  a  copy  of  them,  with 
a  laudatory  note,  to  the  then  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
his  friend,"  says  the  biographer  of  the  poet. 

The  great  Lake  Poet  appears  to  have  disregarded 
the  fact  that  his  own  father  was  an  attorney,  and  acted 
as  agent  to  a  nobleman,  and  he  himself  consented  to 
hold  an  office  of  small  honor  but  fair  salary, — that  of 


252  LIFE  OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  XI. 

stamp  distributor,  —  and  later  receive  a  pension  from 
government ;  all  of  which  makes  it  rather  unjust  in 
him  to  blame  Mrs.  Barbauld  for  the  position  in  life  to 
which  she  was  born.  She  was  certainly  liberal  and 
catholic  in  her  views  of  life,  and  evinced  in  her  writ- 
ings the  extent  and  depth  of  her  study  as  much  as  any 
writer  of  her  time,  being  very  remarkable  for  her  talents 
and  power  of  thought.  She  might  have  been  born  in 
a  more  elevated  position  in  a  worldly  point  of  view ; 
but  it  is  to  be  doubted  whether  the  powers  of  mind  she 
displayed  would  have  been  any  better  developed  and 
cultivated  elsewhere.  And  prejudices  from  which  she 
was  singularly  free  might  then  have  greatly  detracted 
from  the  generous,  pure,  and  simple  style  of  her  writ- 
ings. Worldly  position  did  not  dazzle  her,  nor  had 
wealth  and  rank  alone  any  charms  for  her ;  though 
she  was  not  insensible  to  the  attractions  of  mind  and 
amiability  of  character,  when  they  rose  superior  to 
these  conditions  of  life,  which  develop  beauties  and 
charms,  or  materially  detract  from  them,  if  allowed  to 
exert  too  strongly  the  love  of  display  and  of  power. 

After  Mr.  Eobinson's  introduction,  he  was  a  frequent 
visitor  at  Mrs.  Barbauld's  house,  and  nearer  intimacy 
only  increased  his  respect  and  admiration  for  her  fine 
talents  and  amiable,  womanly  character.  In  the  remi- 
niscences of  Sir  Henry  Holland,  he  tells  the  reader 
that  he  passed  his  vacation  in  the  holidays  of  1803  at 


1804.]  SIR  HEXRY   HOLLAND.  253 

Stoke  ISTewington.  He  was  then  at  Dr.  Estlin's  school 
at  Bristol,  and  afterwards,  for  a  time,  a  pupil  of  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Turner  of  Newcastle,  of  whom  mention  has  been 
made.  He  says  of  it  that  the  vacation  was  spent  at  the 
house  of  Dr.  Aikin,  "  a  very  old  friend  of  my  father." 
*  His  sister,  Mrs.  Barbauld,  who  lived  close  to  him,  and 
his  daughter,  Lucy  Aikin,  gave  a  certain  literary  repute 
to  this  then  tranquil  village,  since  absorbed,  like  so 
many  others,  into  the  huge  mass  of  the  metropolis.  I 
met  in  several  parties,  at  one  or  the  other  house,  several 
writers  of  repute  of  that  day,  now  almost  or  wholly 
forgotten,  —  the  warm  admirers  of  Mrs.  Barbauld's 
masculine  understanding  and  gentle  feminine  character. 
She  well  merited  this  admiration  of  the  excellence  of 
her  English  prose  style ;  it  is  enough  to  say  that  I  have 
heard  it  warmly  praised  both  by  Mackintosh  and  Ma- 
caulay.  Each  specified  the  essay  on  the  '  Inconsistency 
of  Human  Expectations'  as  an  example  of  this  ex- 
cellence." 

This  was  the  first  visit  of  Sir  Henry  to  the  great 
city,  of  which  he  has  since  been  an  ornament,  and 
where  he  was  honored  as  a  professional  and  social  addi- 
tion to  its  already  full  ranks  of  brilliant  and  talented 
men.  Mr.  Crabb  Robinson  also  alludes  to  Mrs.  Bar- 
bauld's essay  on  "  Inconsistency  in  Our  Expectations  " 
as  her  "  famous  essay  " ;  and  in  writing  to  his  friend 
Mr.  Benecke,  in  1835,  he  says :  "  I  wish  Mrs.  Benecke 


254  LIFE   OF   MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  XI. 

would  amuse  herself,  or  procure  some  friend  to  do  so, 
by  translating  Mrs.  Barbauld's  '  Essay  on  Inconsistent- 
Expectations/  I  hold  it  to  be  one  of  the  most  ex- 
quisite morsels  of  English  prose  ever  written.  And  it 
had  the  most  salutary  effect  on  me.  When  a  young 
man  I  met  with  it,  and  so  deeply  was  I  impressed  with 
it,  that  I  can  truly  say  I  never  repined  at  any  one 
want  or  loss,  or  the  absence  of  any  good  that  has  be- 
fallen me." 

During  the  year  1804,  Mrs.  Barbauld  was  requested 
to  prepare  for  publication,  and  edit  with  a  memoir, 
such  of  Richardson's  letters,  and  those  of  his  contem- 
poraries and  friends  included  in  his  correspondence,  as 
she  might  consider  valuable.  This  large  collection  of 
letters  from  the  hand  of  the  novelist  and  his  friends 
was  bought  of  Richardson's  grandchildren.  The  cor- 
respondence was  very  voluminous  and  rather  tedious. 
As  one  can  fancy  the  letters  of  the  author  of  Sir  Charles 
Grandison  would  be  found,  they  prove  prosy  and  dull. 
The  Life  and  the  criticism  of  his  novels  are  admi- 
rable, and  probably  Richardson  owes  to  the  excellence 
and  attractive  style  of  the  biography  the  majority  of 
his  readers  at  the  present  day.  The  real  value  of  the 
six  volumes  of  the  "Life  and  Letters"  lies  in  that 
one  which  is  the  production  of  Mrs.  Barbauld,  and  the 
remaining  volumes  are  interesting  only  from  their  con- 
nection with  her  bright  and  pleasant  account  of  his 


1804.]  SAMUEL   ROGERS.  255 

career,  and  notices  of  his  friends  and  his  novels. 
In  Rogers's  "  Table-Talk "  there  is  an  anecdote  of  Mrs. 
Barbauld  which  may  interest  the  reader,  and  I  add  to 
it  her  own  note,  taken  from  Richardson's  Life,  on  the 
same  subject,  ghe  also  mentions  her  meeting  with  the 
pilgrim  who  so  greatly  admired  Clarissa  Harlowe  that 
he  journeyed  to  the  scene  of  her  residence  at  Hamp- 
stead. 

Mr.  Rogers's  description  of  the  meeting  is  as  follows : — 
"  One  day,  as  she  was  going  to  Hampstead  in  the  stage- 
coach, she  had  a  Frenchman  for  her  companion ;  and, 
entering  into  conversation  with  him,  she  found  that  he 
was  making  an  excursion  to  Hampstead  for  the  express 
purpose  of  seeing  the  house  in  the  Flash  Walk  where 
Clarissa  Harlowe  lodged.  What  a  compliment  to  the 
genius  of  Richardson  !  "  Mrs.  Barbauld,  in  the  life  of 
Richardson,  in  alluding  to  the  character  of  Clarissa,  and 
mentioning  her  flight  from  London  to  the  celebrated 
tavern  called  the  Flask,  —  from  its  situation  in  the  Flask 
Walk,  at  the  end  of  that  pleasant  path  in  the  village 
of  Hampstead,  and  long  celebrated  as  the  resort  Of 
fashion  and  conviviality,  being  the  meeting-place  of  the 
noted  Kitcat  Club,  —  also  describes  the  meeting,  and  the 
surprise  of  the  foreigner,  who  evidently  had  firm  faith 
in  the  truth  of  the  story  of  Clarissa,  and  did  not  for  a 
moment  doubt  the  veracity  of  Richardson. 

Mrs.  Barbauld  says  of  this  incident :  "  The  writer  of 


256  LIFE  OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  XI. 

these  observations  well  remembers  a  Frenchman  who 
paid  a  visit  to  Hampstead  for  the  sole  purpose  of  find- 
ing out  the  house  in  the  Flask  Walk  where  Clarissa 
lodged,  and  was  surprised  at  the  ignorance  or  indiffer- 
ence of  the  inhabitants  on  that  subject.  The  Flask 
Walk  was  to  him  as  much  classic  ground  as  the  rocks 
of  Meillerie  to  the  admirers  of  Eousseau ;  and  probably, 
if  an  English  traveller  were  to  make  similar  inquiries 
in  Switzerland,  he  would  find  that  the  chalets  of  the 
Yalais  suggested  no  ideas  to  the  inhabitants  but  such 
as  were  connected  with  their  dairies  and  their  farms. 
A  constant  residence  soon  destroys  all  sensibility  to 
objects  of  local  enthusiasm." 

The  "Life  of  Eichardson"  was  generally  admired. 
Mr.  Eogers  quotes  Charles  James  Fox's  opinion  about 
it :  "  He  thought  Mrs.  Barbauld's  '  Life  of  Eichardson ' 
admirable  ;  and  regretted  that  she  had  wasted  her  tal- 
ents on  writing  books  for  children,  (excellent  as  these 
books  might  be,)  now  that  there  were  so  many  pieces 
of  that  description."  In  the  Eecollections  of  the  pre- 
vious year,  Eogers  speaks  of  hearing  Fox  repeating 
with  Mrs.  Fox  that  song  of  Mrs.  Barbauld's,  — 

"  Come  here,  fond  youth,  whoe'er  thou  be,"  etc. 

and  criticising  the  first  verse  as  being  exceedingly  un- 
grammatical.  This  was  on  the  occasion  of  a  visit  made 
by  Mr.  Eogers  to  the  great  statesman  at  his  home,  St. 
Anne's  Hill. 


1805.]  NEWINGTON   BOOK-CLUBS.  257 

To  Mrs.  Beecroft. 

Dorking,  September,  1805. 

"We  came  hither  to  take  lodgings  somewhere  in  this 

beautiful  country,  but  found  none  vacant ;  so  we  have  been 
some  time  at  Burford  Bridge,  a  little  quiet  sort  of  an  inn  in 
the  centre  of  the  pleasant  walks ;  and  a  few  days  with  our 

Mends  the  C- s.    This  is  very  much  of  a  corn  country,  and 

we  are  in  the  midst  of  harvest  :  the  window  at  which  I  am 
now  writing  looks  into  a  corn-field,  where  a  family  have  es- 
tablished their  menage.  The  man  and  his  wife  are  reaping 
the  corn  ;  a  cradle  with  a  young,  child  in  it  is  brought  into 
the  field  by  break  of  day,  and  set  under  a  hedge  ;  the  mother 
makes  a  sort  of  tent  with  her  red  cloak  to  shelter  it  from  the 
weather ;  and  there  she  gives  it  suck,  and  there  they  take 
their  meals ;  two  older  children  either  watch  the  cradle  or 
run  about  the  fields.  A  young  baronet  here  has  incurred 
great  and  deserved  odium  by  forbidding  the  poor  to  glean  in 
his  fields  :  and  effectually  to  prevent  them,  the  plough  im- 
mediately follows  the  sickle ;  yet  probably  this  man  can  talk 
of  the  wisdom  of  our  forefathers,  and  the  regard  due  to  an- 
cient observances.  This  country  is  remarkable  for  great  rich- 
ness of  wood,  which  Autumn  has  as  yet  only  touched  with 
his  little  finger ;  in  a  month's  time  they  will  be  enchanting. 
Another  agrement  here  is,  that  you  see  no  soldiers ;  though 
I  confess  you  are  put  in  mind  of  them  by  a  military  road 
lately  cut  over  Box  Hill, — I  hope,  a  very  needless  precaution. 

One  finds  little  glimpses  of  the  life  of  Mrs.  Barbauld, 
at  this  time,  in  the  letters  of  Lucy  Aikin.     In  one  she 


258  LIFE  OF  MRS.   BAEBAULD.  [Chap.  XL 

writes  of  the  book-club  at  Stoke  Newington,  and  after 
describing  some  of  its  rules,  and  the  differences  of 
opinion  as  to  its  arrangement  and  management,  she 
adds,  "  It  is  a  great  hobby-horse  with  my  Aunt  Bar- 
bauld  and  me."  Again  she  writes  :  "  The  Barbaulds  are 
going  next  week  to  lodgings  in  town,  which  they  have 
taken  for  a  few  weeks,  in  order  to  see  everything  and 
everybody  with  little  trouble.  They  wish  me  to  go 
and  share  their  gayety,  but  I  feel  by  no  means  equal 
to  racketing  at  present,  and  my  father  shows  little  in- 
clination to  intrust  me  to  the  prudence  of  my  aunt,  who 
is  at  least  forty  years  younger  than  I  am." 

In  Mrs.  Barbauld's  correspondence  with  Miss  Edge- 
worth,  there  was  much  about  new  books  and  their 
authors.  In  one  letter  she  asks  Miss  Edgeworth  if  she 
has  yet  seen  "  Mr.  Scott's  new  poem  '  Marmion/  "  and 
strongly  advises  her  to  obtain  it  and  read  it,  if  she  has 
not  already  done  so. 

To  Mrs.  Smith. 

Stoke  Newtngton,  January  7,  1806. 
Dear  Madam,  — I  think  there  is  a  spell  against  our  profit- 
ing by  your  kind  invitations.  The  occasion  on  which  you 
now  ask  us  to  Parndon  is  a  very  interesting  one,  and  we 
should  have  had  great  pleasure  in  keeping  with  you  your 
silver  feast,  as  the  Germans  call  it  when  a  couple  have  lived 
happily  a  quarter  of  a  century  together.  But  at  present  it  is 
impossible 


1806.]  LIFE   AT  NEWINGTON.  259 

It  is  perhaps,  after  all,  as  well  for  me  that  there  is  a  circum- 
stance which  imperiously  says  "  You  cannot  go  " ;  because, 
apart  from  that  consideration,  if  I  were  tempted  by  my  incli- 
nation, a  violent  cold  which  I  have  upon  me  would,  I  fear, 
make  me  unequal  to  a  winter  journey.  Meantime  my  heart 
is  with  you,  and  Mr.  Barbauld's,  and  most  cordially  do  we 
join  in  congratulations  and  wishes  that  the  latter  half  of  your 
lives  may  be  as  happy  as  the  former ;  for  more  I  think  it 
cannot  be,  as  you  seem  to  me  to  have  all  the  ingredients,  ex- 
ternal and  internal,  of  which  that  precious  compound  happi- 
ness is  composed  ;  for  a  compound  I  maintain  it  to  be,  and 
of  a  vast  many  ingredients  too,  — begging  Mr.  Harris's  par- 
don, whose  dialogue  on  the  subject  I  read  at  sixteen  with 
great  edification.  But  your  happiness  may  be  multiplied, 
however,  as  your  numerous  family  spreads  abroad  into  the 
world,  and  you  have  the  pleasure  of  seeing  them  acquire  for 
themselves  in  their  own  families  that  esteem  and  considera- 
tion which  they  now  derive  from  yours.  May  this  and  every 
succeeding  year  increase  your  satisfaction  in  them,  and  find 
and  leave  you  both  happy  !  etc.,  etc. 

Miss  Aikin  tells  an  anecdote  which  shows  the  strong 
feeling  of  interest  and  admiration  felt  for  Mrs.  Bar- 
bauld.  When  her  brother,  Arthur  Aikin,  Esq.,  was  can- 
vassing for  votes  for  the  position  of  secretary  to  the 
Society  of  Arts,  "  one  man,  a  swTord-cutler,  to  whom  he 
had  no  introduction,  gave  his  vote  to  him  as  Mrs.  Bar- 
bauld's nephew,  and  begged  to  introduce  him  to  his 


260  LIFE  OF  MRS.   BAEBAULD.  [Chap.  XI. 

family."  She  writes  of  meeting  Rogers,  the  poet,  his 
brother  and  sister,  at  the  Barbaulds'  at  dinner.  "  Noth- 
ing," she  adds,  "  could  be  more  agreeable.  Mr.  Rogers 
laid  himself  out  to  be  entertaining"  ;  and  that  he  proba- 
bly always  did  when  with  Mrs.  Barbauld,  whom  he  re- 
spected and  loved.  The  vein  of  cynicism  in  him  was 
subdued  and  quieted  by  her  amiable  temper.  In  another 
letter  to  her  brother,  Miss  Aikin  describes  the  efforts  of 
her  mother  and  herself  to  prepare  their  minds  to  teach 
one  of  her  brother's  children.  For  the  benefit  of  her 
little  nephew,  they  were  studying  a  work  on  "  Practical 
Education,"  at  which,  she  says,  "  My  Aunt  Barbauld 
laughs  excessively ;  she  says  '  I  know  that  everybody 
reads  works  on  education  as  pleasant  works,'  but  this 
is  the  first  time  that  ever  I  heard  of  anybody's  sitting 
gravely  down  to  study  them  for  use.' ".  In  1 806,  Miss 
Aikin,  in  writing  Mrs.  Taylor,  tells  her  that  the  Est- 
lins  of  Bristol,  whom  the  Barbaulds  had  often  visited, 
were  there  "  on  a  visit  to  the  Barbaulds,  and  we  meet 
almost  daily." 

To  Mrs.  J.  Taylor  of  Norwich. 

1806. 
I  am  now  reading  Mr.  Johnes's  "  Froissart,"  and  I  think 
I  never  was  more  struck  with  the  horrors  of  war,  —  simply 
because  he  seems  not  at  all  struck  with  them ;  and  I  feel 
ashamed  at  my  heart  having  ever  beat  with  pleasure  at  the 
names  of  Cressy  and  Poitiers.     He  tells  you  the  English 


1808.]  DEATH   OF   MR.   BARBAULD.  261 

marched  into  such  a  district ;  the  barns  were  full,  and  cattle 
and  corn  plentiful ;  they  burned  and  destroyed  all  the  vil- 
lages, and  laid  the  country  bare ;  such  an  English  earl  took 
a  town,  and  killed  men,  women,  and  little  children ;  and  he 
never  makes  a  remark,  but  shows  he  looks  upon  it  as  the 
usual  mode  of  proceeding. 

Mrs.  Barbauld  required  all  the  variety  of  occupation, 
the  cheer  of  society,  and  the  sympathy  of  friends,  in 
this  period  of  her  life.  She  had  a  long  and  anxious 
interval  of  care  and  distress  of  mind,  arising  from  the 
mental  condition  and  excitable  temperament  of  Mr. 
Barbauld.  At  length  the  blow  came,  —  perhaps  in  a 
direction  which  6he  had  dreaded,  but  it  would  appear 
to  have  been  a  new  phase  of  the  disease  from  which  he 
suffered.  Mr.  Barbauld  was  found  drowned  in  the  Xew 
Biver,  November  11,  1808.  One  of  his  peculiarities 
was  an  excessive  use  of  water,  and  he  may  have  fallen 
in  while  prompted  with  a  fancy  to  use  the  river  for 
the  purpose  of  ablution ;  or  a  sudden  seizure  of  a  more 
violent  nature  may  have  caused  his  unhappy  death. 
The  dangers  and  anxiety  wdiich  had  so  long  impended 
over  and  harassed  the  feeling  heart  of  Mrs.  Barbauld 
now  became  a  terrible  reality,  and  she  was  deeply 
affected  by  these  painful  trials,  and  the  distressing 
event  which  terminated  the  life  of  her  husband.  She 
herself,  in  the  sketch  of  him  contributed  by  her  to  the 


262  LIFE   OF   MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  XI. 

"  Monthly  Eepository  of  Theology  and  General  Litera- 
ture," feelingly  alluded  to  the  malady  of  Mr.  Barbauld, 
and  there  stated  that  the  disease  was  hereditary.  As  a 
touching  tribute  of  unwearied  and  devoted  affection, 
tempered  with  impartial  judgment  and  discernment,  I 
quote  from  her  description  of  his  character  and  mental 
powers. 

"  The  scenes  of  life  Mr.  Barbauld  passed  through  were 
common  ones,  but  his  character  was  not  a  common  one. 
His  reasoning  powers  were  acute,  and  sharpened  by  exercise ; 
for  he  was  early  accustomed  to  discussion,  and  argued  with 
great  clearness ;  with  a  degree  of  warmth,  indeed,  but  with 
perfect  candor  towards  his  opponent.  He  gave  the  most 
liberal  latitude  to  free  inquiry,  and  could  bear  to  hear  those 
truths  attacked  which  he  most  steadfastly  believed,  the  more 
because  he  steadfastly  believed  them ;  for  he  was  delighted  to 
submit  to  the  test  of  argument  those  truths  which  he  had 
no  doubt  could,  by  argument,  be  defended.  He  had  an  un- 
common flow  of  conversation  on  those  points  which  had 
engaged  his  attention,  and  delivered  himself  with  a  warmth 
and  animation  which  enlivened  the  driest  subject.  He  was 
equally  at  home  in  French  and  English  literature ;  and  the 
exquisite  sensibility  of  his  mind,  with  the  early  culture  his 
taste  had  received,  rendered  him  an  excellent  judge  of  all 
those  works  which  appeal  to  the  heart  and  the  imagination. 
His  feelings  were  equally  quick  and  vivid ;  his  expressive 
countenance  was  the  index  of  his  mind,  and  of  every  instan- 


1808.]  CHARACTER   OF   MR.    BARBAULD.  263 

taneous  impression  made  upon  him.  Children,  who  are  the 
best  physiognomists,  were  always  attracted  to  him,  and  he 
delighted  to  entertain  them  with  lively  narratives  suited  to 
their  age,  in  which  he  had  great  invention.  The  virtues  of 
his  heart  will  be  acknowledged  by  all  who  knew  him.  His 
benevolence  was  enlarged  ;  it  was  the  spontaneous  propensity 
of  Ins  nature,  as  well  as  the  result  of  his  religious  system. 
He  was  temperate  almost  to  abstemiousness,  yet  without 
any  tincture  of  ascetic  rigor.  A  free,  undaunted  spirit,  a  win- 
ning simplicity,  a  tendency  to  enthusiasm,  —  but  of  the  gen- 
tle and  liberal  kind,  —  formed  the  prominent  lineaments  of 
his  character.  The  social  affections  were  all  alive  and  active 
in  him.  His  heart  overflowed  with  kindness  to  all,  —  the 
lowest  that  came  within  his  sphere.  There  never  was  a  hu- 
man being  who  had  less  of  the  selfish  and  worldly  feelings,  — 
they  hardly  seemed  to  form  a  part  of  his  nature.  His  was 
truly  the  charity  which  thinketh  no  ill.  Great  singleness  of 
heart,  and  a  candor  very  opposite  to  the  suspicious  temper  of 
worldly  sagacity,  made  him  slow  to  impute  unworthy  mo- 
tives to  the  actions  of  his  fellow-men  ;  yet  his  candor  by  no 
means  sprang  from  indifference  to  moral  rectitude;  for, 
when  he  could  no  longer  resist  conviction,  his  censure 
was  decided,  and  his  indignation  warm  and  warmly  ex- 
pressed. His  standard  of  virtue  was  high,  and  he  felt  no 
propensities  which  disposed  him  to  lower  it.  His  religious 
sentiments  were  of  a  most  pure  and  liberal  cast ;  and  his  prd- 
pit  services,  when  the  state  of  his  spirits  seconded  the  ardor 
of  his  mind,  were  characterized  by  the  rare  union  of  a  fervent 


264  LIFE   OF   MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  XI. 

spirit  of  devotion,  a  pure,  sublime  philosophy,  supported  by 
arguments  of  metaphysical  acuteness.  He  did  not  speak  the 
language  of  any  party,  nor  exactly  coincide  with  the  systems 
of  any.  He  was  a  believer  in  the  pre-existence  of  Christ,  and, 
in  a  certain  modified  sense,  in  the  Atonement ;  thinking  those 

doctrines  most  consonant  to  the  tenor  of  Scripture ; 

but  he  was  too  sensible  of  the  difficulties  which  press  upon 
every  system  not  to  feel  indulgence  for  all,  and  he  was  not 
zealous  for  any  doctrine  which  did  not  affect  the  heart.  Of 
the  moral  perfections  of  the  Deity  he  had  the  purest  and 
most  exalted  ideas  ;  on  these  were  chiefly  founded  his  system 
of  religion,  and  these,  together  with  his  own  benevolent 
nature,  led  him  to  embrace  so  warmly  his  favorite  doctrine 
of  the  final  salvation  of  all  the  human  race,  and  indeed,  the 

gradual  rise  and  perfectibility  of  all  created  existence 

His  latter  days  were  oppressed  by  a  morbid  affection  of  his 
spirits,  in  a  great  degree  hereditary,  which  came  gradually 
upon  him,  and  closed  the  scene  of  his  earthly  usefulness ;  yet 
in  the  midst  of  the  irritation  it  occasioned,  the  kindness  of 
his  nature  broke  forth,  and  some  of  his  last  acts  were  acts 
of  benevolence." 

An  affecting  "Dirge,"  written  November,  1808, 
attested  to  the  depth  of  his  widow's  grief  and  the 
Christian  fortitude  with  which  she  met  this  terrible 
shock  and  affliction.  She  touchingly  and  fervently 
prays  that  she  may  be  taught  and  supported  — 

"  To  welcome  all  that  's  left  of  good, 
To  all  that 's  lost  resigned. " 


EDITS   "  BRITISH   NOVELISTS."  265 


CHAPTEE    XII. 

Mrs.  Barbauld  edits  "British  Novelists." —Prepares  a  "Selec- 
tion" for  the  Young,  called  "The  Enfield  Speaker ."— Pub- 
lishes Poem  "Eighteen  Hundred  and  Eleven. "  — Criticisms  on 
this  Poem.  —  Style  of  it.  —  Mr.  Robinson's  Diary.  —  Letters.  — 
Social  Activity  of  Mrs.  Barbauld.  —  She  meets  Scott  at  Din- 
ner. —  Mrs.  Farrar's  Recollections.  —  Mrs.  Barbauld  and 
Byron's  Poem.  —  Miss  Edgeworth's  Visit.  —  Mr.  Robinson's 
Picture  of  Mrs.  Barbauld.  —  Dr.  Channing  visits  her.  —  Old 
Age  and  its  Trials.  —  Loss  of  her  Old  Friends.  —  Death  of 
Dr.  Aiktn.  —  Mrs.  Barbauld's  Cheerfulness  and  Patience.  — 
Illness  and  Death.  —  Miss  Aikln's  Estimate  of  her  Character. 
—  Miss  Edgeworth's  Remarks.  —  Tablet  to  Mrs.  Barbauld's 
Memory.  —  Anecdotes.  —  Mrs.  Barbauld's  Poetry.  —  Her  Prose 
Works.  —  Her  Position  in  English  Literature.  —  Her  Charac- 
ter. —  Her  Influence.  —  Her  Personal  Appearance.  —  The  Jus- 
tice of  the  Claims  to   Respect  and  Veneration  her  Life  in- 


IN  the  year  1809,  Miss  Edge  worth  wrote  a  friend 
that  Dr.,  now  Sir  Henry,  Holland,  in  his  visit  at 
Edgeworthstown,  had  much  to  say  of  Mrs.  Barbauld, 
and  greatly  interested  her  old  friends  there  by  his 
conversation  about  her.  In  the  same  year  Miss  Edge- 
worth  again  refers  to  her,  and  mentions  correcting 
"  Belinda "  for  Mrs.  Barbauld,  who  is  going  to  insert 
12 


266  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  XII. 

it  in  her  collection  of  novels,  with  a  preface.  While 
still  very  much  prostrated  and  depressed  by  the  death 
of  Mr.  Barbauld,  she  had  the  strength  of  mind  and 
fortitude  to  busy  herself  with  her  beloved  pursuits; 
and  being  asked  to  edit  a  "Collection  of  the  British 
Novelists,"  she  consented  to  occupy  herself  with  the 
arrangement  and  preparation  of  their  works  and  lives. 
She  wrote  also  for  the  edition  an  introductory  essay 
which  is  still  of  value  and  interest  in  connection  with 
the  novels.  The  biographical  and  critical  notices  of 
each  writer,  and  the  events  of  his  or  her  career ;  their 
genius,  style,  and  position  in  the  ranks  of  literature, 
are  admirable,  full  of  life  and  spirit,  and  charmingly 
clear  and  concise.  Sir  Walter  Scott  acknowledged  his 
indebtedness  to  Mrs.  Barbauld  for  some  of  his  material 
used  in  the  biographies  prefixed  by  him  to  the  novels 
in  Ballantyne's  edition  of  "  British  Novelists."  This 
"  Collection  of  the  British  Novelists  "  prepared  by  Mrs. 
Barbauld  consisted  of  fifty  volumes,  and  appeared  in 
the  year  1810. 

In  Mr.  Eobinson's  diary,  he  wrote,  for  the  year  1810, 
of  one  day :  —  "In  the  afternoon  I  sat  with  Mrs.  Bar- 
bauld, still  in  all  the  beauty  of  her  fine  taste,  correct 
understanding,  as  well  as  pure  integrity." 

June  18,  1810. 
My  dear  Mrs.  Taylor,  —  A  thousand  thanks  for  your 
kind  letter  ;  still  more  for  the  very  kind  visit  that  preceded 


1810.]  MRS.    MONTAGUE'S   LETTERS.  267 

it ;  though  short,  too  short,  it  has  left  indelible  impressions 
on  my  mind  ;  my  heart  has  truly  had  communion  with  yours, 
—  your  sympathy  has  been  balm  to  it ;  and  I  feel  there  is 
no  one  now  on  earth  to  whom  I  could  pour  out  that  heart 
more  readily,  —  I  may  say,  so  readily,  —  as  to  yourself.  Very 
good  also  has  my  dear,  amiable  Mrs.  Beecroft  been  to  me, 
whose  lively  sweetness  and  agreeable  conversation  has  at 
times  won  me  to  forget  that  my  heart  is  heavy. 

I  am  now  alone  again,  and  feel  like  a  person  who  has  been 
sitting  by  a  cheerful  fire,  not  sensible  at  the  time  of  the  tem- 
perature of  the  air ;  but,  the  fire  removed,  he  finds  the  season 
is  still  winter.  Day  after  day  passes,  and  I  do  not  know 
what  I  do  with  my  time  ;  my  mind  has  no  energy,  nor  power 
of  application.  I  can  tell  you,  however,  what  I  have  done 
with  some  hours  of  it,  which  have  been  agreeably  employed 
in  reading  Mrs.  Montague's  Letters.  I  think  her  nephew 
has  made  a  very  agreeable  present  to  the  public ;  and  I  was 
greatly  edified  to  see  them  printed  in  modest  octavo,  with 
Mrs.  Montague's  sweet  face  (for  it  is  a  very  pretty  face)  at 
the  head.  They  certainly  show  a  very  extraordinary  mind, 
full  of  wit,  and  also  of  deep  thought  and  sound  judgment. 
She  seems  to  have  liked  not  a  little  to  divert  herself  with  the 
odd  and  the  ludicrous,  and  shows  herself  in  the  earlier  letters 
passionately  fond  of  balls  and  races  and  London  company  ; 
this  was  natural  enough  at  eighteen.  Perhaps  you  may  not 
so  easily  pardon  her  for  having  early  settled  her  mind,  as  she 
evidently  had,  not  to  marry  except  for  an  establishment. 
This  seems  to  show  a  want  of  some  of  those  fine  feelings  that 


268  LIFE   OF   MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  XII. 

one  expects  in  youth ;  but  when  it  is  considered  that  she 
•was  the  daughter  of  a  country  gentleman  with  a  large  family 
and  no  fortune  to  expect,  and  her  connections  all  in  high 
life,  one  is  disposed  to  pardon  her,  especially  as  I  dare  say 
she  would  never  have  married  a  fool  or  a  profligate.  I  heard 
her  say  —  what  I  suppose  very  few  can  say  —  that  she 
never  was  in  love  in  her  life.  Many  of  the  letters  are  in 
fact  essays ;  and  I  think,  had  she  turned  her  thoughts  to 
write  in  that  way,  she  would  have  excelled  Johnson. 

I  have  also  turned  over  Lamb's  "  Specimens  of  Old  Plays," 
and  am  much  pleased  with  them.  I  made  a  discovery  there, 
—  that  La  Motte's  fable  of  Genius,  Virtue,  and  Reputation, 
which  has  been  so  much  praised  for  its  ingenious  turn,  is  bor- 
rowed from  Webster,  an  author  of  the  age  of  Shakespeare, — 
or  they  have  taken  it  from  some  common  source,  for  a  French- 
man was  not  very  likely  to  light  upon  an  English  poet  of 
that  age ;  they  knew  about  as  much  of  us  then,  as  we  did 
fifty  years  ago  of  the  Germans.  It  is  surprising  how  little 
invention  there  is  in  the  world ;  no  very  good  story  was  ever 
invented.  It  is  perhaps  originally  some  fact  a  little  enlarged ; 
then  by  some  other  hand  embellished  with  circumstances; 
then  by  somebody  else,  a  century  after,  refined,  drawn  to  a 
point,  and  furnished  with  a  moral.  When  shall  we  see  the 
moral  of  the  world's  great  story,  which  astonishes  by  its 
events,  interests  by  the  numerous  agents  it  puts  in  motion, 
but  of  which  we  cannot  understand  the  bearings  or  predict 
the  catastrophe  1  It  is  a  tangled  web,  of  which  we  have  not 
the  clue.     I  do   not  know  how  to  rejoice  at  this  victory, 


1811.]  "THE  ENFIELD   SPEAKER."  269 

splendid  as  it  is,  over  Buonaparte,  when  I  consider  the  hor- 
rible waste  of  life,  the  mass  of  misery,  which  such  gigantic 
combats  must  occasion.  I  will  think  no  more  of  it ;  let  me 
rather  contemplate  your  family  :  there  the  different  threads 
all  wind  evenly,  smoothly,  and  brightly. 

In  the  year  1811,  Mrs.  Barbauld  prepared  for  the 
use  of  young  ladies  an  excellent  selection  of  prose  and 
poetical  works  of  the  best  English  writers;  this  was 
called  the  "  Enfield  Speaker,"  and  appeared  in  one 
volume. 

Stoke  Newington,  May,  1811. 

My  dear  Mrs.  Kenrick,  —  I  have  been  thinking  what  to 
liken  our  uncertain  and  unfrequent  correspondence  to.  I 
cannot  liken  it  to  the  regular  blow  of  flowers  that  come  out 
and  blossom  in  their  proper  season.  It  is  rather  like  the 
aloe,  that,  after  having  been  barren  season  after  season,  shows 
signs  of  life  all  on  a  sudden,  and  pushes  out  when  you  least 
expect  it.  But  take  notice,  the  life  is  in  the  aloe  all  the 
while,  and  sorry  indeed  should  I  be  if  the  life  was  not  all 
the  while  in  our  friendship,  though  it  so  seldom  diffuses  itself 
over  a  piece  of  paper.  How  much  I  long  to  see  you  again  ! 
I  wish  you  would  come  and  see  me  this  summer ;  the  journey, 
I  should  hope,  would  not  be  too  much  for  you,  and  in  com- 
ing to  see  me  you  would  be  near  all  your  friends.  Do  think 
of  it! 

....  I  believe  I  am  writing  you  an  enormous  letter ;  but 
I  have  been  in  a  course    of  letter-reading.     I  am  wading 


270  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  XII. 

through  the  letters  of  Madame  du  Deflfand,  in  four  volumes. 
Have  you  read  them  1  Walpole  and  she  wrote  every  week, 
and  they  were  continually  grumbling  at  one  another,  yet 
they  went  on.  "Walpole,  poor  man,  seems  to  have  been  ter- 
ribly afraid  that  this  old  blind  lady  was  in  love  with  him ; 
and  he  had  much  ado  to  reduce  her  expressions  of  friendship 
to  something  of  an  English  standard.  This  lady  appears  to 
have  been  very  unhappy.  She  was  blind,  indeed ;  but  she 
had  everything  else  that  could  make  age  comfortable  :  for- 
tune, friends,  talents,  consideration  in  the  world,  the  society 
of  all  the  wits  and  all  the  people  of  rank  of  Paris,  or  who 
visited  Paris ;  but  she  totally  wanted  the  best  support  of  all, 
—  religious  feelings  and  hopes ;  and  I  do  not  know  anything 
that  is  likely  to  impress  their  importance  more  on  the  mind 
than  the  perusal  of  these  letters.  You  see  her  tired  of  life, 
almost  blaspheming  Providence  for  having  given  her  exist-v 
ence ;  yet  dreading  to  die  because  she  had  no  hopes  beyond 
death.  A  lady  told  me  she  would  not  on  any  account  let 
her  daughter  read  the  letters.  I  think,  for  my  part,  they 
give  in  this  view  as  good  a  lesson  as  you  can  pick  out  of  Mrs. 
More's  "  Practical  Piety,"  which,  if  you  have  not  read,  I  can- 
not help  it. 

Adieu  !  do  let  me  hear  from  you  soon.  I  wonder,  say  you, 
the  woman  has  the  face  to  ask  it.  That 's  true,  but  I  hope 
you  will,  notwithstanding.  Nothing  will  give  more  pleas- 
ure to 

Your  ever  affectionate  friend. 


1811.]  CORRESPONDENCE.  271 

To  Miss  F. 

Stoke  Newtngton,  September,  1811. 

"  And  when  did  you  hear  from  Miss  F.  1 "  "  Pray,  madam, 
when  did  you  hear  frQin  Miss  F.  I "     "I  hope  Miss  F.  is 

well !     Is  she  got  to  E yet  1 "     This  is  a  specimen  of 

the  questions  often  asked  me  by  those  who  have  been  too 
much  interested  in  the  hours  they  enjoyed  of  your  company 
while  you  were  in  this  part  of  the  world  not  to  feel  an 
interest  in  you  when  you  had  left  it. 

To  these  I  reply,  that  I  have  not  heard ;  that  I  shall  be 
most  happy  at  any  time  to  hear,  when  dear  Miss  F.  feels 
any  inclination  to  write  ;  that  I  do  not  think  she  is  particu- 
larly fond  of  writing  letters ;  and  that  I  have  too  much  of 
her  taste  in  this  respect,  and  am  conscious  of  too  many  sins 
of  my  own  in  this  matter,  to  urge  any  claims  on  other  peo- 
ple, supposing  I  had  them,  which  in  this  instance  I  do  not 
pretend  to  have.  At  present,  however,  I  cannot  resist  tak- 
ing the  opportunity,  as  the  children  say,  of  Mr. 's  con- 
veyance. .  .  .  chiefly  to  express  the  affectionate  remembrance 
which  must  always  dwell  in  my  heart  of  one  so  dear  to 
me 

We  have  had  the  very  beautiful  and  interesting  sight  of  a 
balloon  sent  off  from  the  neighboring  fields.  The  carriages 
of  all  sorts,  eager  countenances  exhibited  from  windows,  tops 
of  houses,  and  church  steeples,  made  a  gayer  spectacle,  I 
think,  than  any  exhibition  within  walls  could  have  been 
made.  I  saw  it  like  a  majestic  dome  among  the  trees ;  it 
swelled,  it  rose  gently,  it  vibrated ;  then  it  sprang  up  into 


272  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  XII. 

the  sky,  light  as  —  what  shall  I  say  1  what  can  I  say  of  a 
substance  that  is  itself  lighter  than  air  1  I  must  say,  I  be- 
lieve, as  light  as  thought,  —  as  your  thoughts,  I  mean,  for 
mine  are  often  heavy,  etc.,  etc. 

In  the  year  1811  Mrs.  Barbauld  wrote  the  fine  poem 
which  the  reader  will  find  in  the  Selections  from  her 
works  ;  it  being  considered  the  most  perfect  long  poem 
she  wrote.  The  prophetic  gift  was  certainly  not  hers ; 
but  the  fervor  and  spirit  which  the  poem  on  the  year 
"Eighteen  Hundred  and  Eleven"  displays,  and  the 
finished  and  eloquent  descriptions  in  it,  the  grand 
ideas  of  freedom,  and  the  hope  for  its  future  which  she 
expresses,  are  very  powerful.  It  must  impress  the 
reader  with  the  highest  sense  of  the  author's  genius 
and  style  of  thought,  power  of  language  and  imagina- 
tion. The  time  at  which  she  wrote  this  poem  was  one  of 
the  deepest  national  distress  and  gloom.  War  on  every 
side  had  made  Great  Britain  for  years  the  scene  of  con- 
stant military  preparation,  and  had  drawn  from  her 
soil  the  best  and  bravest  of  her  sons,  leaving  her  with 
an  enormous  and  exhausting  debt  and  decimated  popu- 
lation, in  mourning  the  loss  of  sons,  brothers,  and  hus- 
bands slain  in  war. 

Mrs.  Barbauld  —  with  the  grand  and  patriotic  purpose 
of  warning  her  countrymen  against  the  want  of  national 
integrity  and  honor,  and  the  spirit  of  luxury,  after  mak- 


1811.]  "  EIGHTEEN   HTJNDKED  AND   ELEVEN."  273 

ing  a  beautiful  apostrophe  to  the  land  she  loves,  admon- 
ishing Great  Britain  that  she  cannot  escape  the  conse- 
quences of  unrighteous  war  —  opens  a  splendid  de- 
scription of  the  wealth,  culture,  science,  and  art  of 
England,  with  these  lines,  which  evince  very  strongly 
her  love  of  country,  and  that  her  very  affection  for  her 
native  land  did  not  blind  her  to  the  faults,  seeing 
which  she  felt  forced  to  reprove  and  caution.  The 
piece  begins,  — 

"Yet,  0  my  country,  name  beloved,  revered, 
By  every  tie  that  binds  the  soul,  endeared, 
"Whose  image  to  my  infant  senses  came, 
Mixt  with  religion's  light  and  freedom's  holy  flame." 

And  continuing  this  address,  she  gives  her  reader  a 
truly  magnificent  picture  of  London,  and  its  former 
greatness,  with  "the  faded  glories"  which  shall  draw 
the  future  traveller  in  ages  to  come  from  distant  lands 
to  muse  sadly  on  the  ruins  of  so  much  that  was  once 
great  and  renowned.  The  reader  will  not  fail  to  be  im- 
pressed with  the  strength  of  energy,  power  of  descrip- 
tion, and  beauty  of  language  in  this  poem.  Though, 
happily  for  the  world,  England  has  not  fallen  under  the 
evil  days  she  predicted,  her  hope  for  freedom  and 
true  liberty  of  thought  in  America,  and  the  vision  of 
the  Genius  of  Freedom, .  have  found  a  partial  realiza- 
tion here,  in  our  great  republic,  while  this  has  been 

12*  R 


274  LIFE   OF   MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  XIL 

gained  by  the  horrors  of  war  which  she  so  much  dep- 
recated. 

The  warning  voice,  which  spoke  from  a  mind  and 
heart  filled  with  true  patriotism,  one  would  suppose 
must  have  affected  all  who  read  the  grand  and  elevated 
words  of  this  poem.  But  there  were  those  who  could 
not  bear  with  equanimity  the  thought  that  others  who 
differed  with  them  in  sentiment  should  express  their 
views  freely.  Mrs.  Barbauld.  in  common  with  other 
liberal  and  progressive  thinkers  and  writers,  was  the 
victim  of  a  reviewer.  Under  the  cover  of  an  anony- 
mous article  in  the  "  Quarterly  Be  view,"  she  was  made 
the  subject  of  a  most  malignant  and  ungentlemanly 
attack,  personal  in  its  nature  and  wholly  unwarranted 
by  the  spirit  or  opinions  contained  in  her  poem. 

I  have  Miss  Aikin's  authority  for  stating  the  author 
of  this  unfeeling  and  cruel  attack  to  be  one  who  should, 
for  the  sake  of  poetry  and  true  literature,  have  spared 
the  venerable  author  of  so  much  that  has  given 
pleasure  and  instruction.  At  the  time  Miss  Aikin 
wrote  her  Memoir  of  Mrs.  Barbauld,  she  was  appar- 
ently ignorant  of  the  authorship  of  this  review  of  the 
,poem  "Eighteen  Hundred  and  Eleven";  for  she  speaks 
of  the  review  and  its  anonymous  nature,  but  does  not 
hint  any  surmises  about  the  writer  of  it.  In  1845,  in 
writing  to  her  friend  Mr.  Mallet,  she  says  :  "  If  you  see 
the  last  and  preceding  numbers  of  the  '  Gentleman's 


1511.]  "EIGHTEEN   HUNDRED   AND   ELEVEN."  275 

Magazine/  you  will  find  an  article  on  Sou  they 's  Life  in 
the  first  of  them,  and  some  pretty  sharp  comments  of 
mine  in  the  second,  exposing  the  vileness  of  his  con- 
duct to  Mrs.  Barbauld.  It  is  impossible  now  to  doubt 
that  all  the  scurrilities  of  the  '  Quarterly '  respecting 
her  were  his.  I  am  persuaded  that  he  hated  most  lit- 
erary women ;  and  latterly  all  Dissenters." 

The  article  was  neither  indicative  of  good  feeling  nor 
literary  taste  and  judgment;  being  full  of  personali- 
ties, and  utterly  wanting  in  discrimination  as  to  Mrs. 
Barbauld's  just  and  acknowledged  claims  to  respect  as 
a  poetess  and  a  literary  woman  of  ability.  This  cut- 
ting, satirical  notice  of  the  poem  "Eighteen  Hundred 
and  Eleven"  appeared  in  the  "  Quarterly  Review  "  for 
1812.  The  reviewer  says  he  had  hoped  the  nation 
might  be  saved  without  the  aid  of  Mrs.  Barbauld,  but 
"  not  such,  however,  is  her  opinion ;  an  irresistible  im- 
pulse of  public  duty  —  a  confident  sense  of  command- 
ing talents  —  has  induced  her  to  dash  down  her  sha- 
green  spectacles  and  her  knitting-needles,  and  to  sally 
forth,  hand  in  hand  with  her  renowned  compatriot,*  in 
the  magnanimous  resolution  of  saving  a  sinking  coun- 
try by  the  instrumentality  of  a  pamphlet  in  prose  and 
a  pamphlet  in  verse."  Of  her  former  works  he  says, 
"  They  have  been  of  some  utility,  though  they  display 
not  much  of  either   taste  or  talents  :  are  something 

*  "William  Roscoe. 


276  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  XII. 

better  than  harmless."  In  concluding  the  article,  which 
is  only  a  repetition  of  abuse,  and  the  harshest,  most 
narrow  criticism,  the  writer  warns  Mrs.  Barbauld,  at 
her  peril,  to  use  satire  again,  evidently  considering  that 
weapon  his  pet  instrument ;  and  certainly  in  his  hands 
it  became  one  of  torture  to  his  victims.  Mr.  Eoscoe's 
pamphlet,  "  Occasional  Tracts  relative  to  the  "War  be- 
tween Great  Britain  and  France,"  was  the  prose 
pamphlet  which  roused  the  wrath  of  the  reviewer. 

Mr.  William  Turner,  the  friend  and  contemporary  of 
Mrs.  Barbauld,  in  his  sketch  of  her  speaks  of  this  ar- 
ticle as  follows :  — 

"  On  this  poem  a  critique  was  published  in  the  *  Quarterly 
Keview,'  which,  I  must  think,  was  anything  but  creditable 
to  the  writer.  He  had  a  right  to  smile  at  what  many  of  her 
best  friends  flattered  themselves  would  prove  at  least  a  very 
premature  prognostic  of  the  decline  of  British  glory,  and,  if 
he  pleased,  to  sneer  at  her  exultation  in  the  prospect  of 
American  freedom ;  but  the  contemptible  affectation  of 
undervaluing  her  talents,  and  placing  her  before  his  readers 
as  a  mere  writer  of  lessons  for  children,  is  disgraceful  only  to 
himself.  It  is  agreeable  to  wish  that  the  article  may  have 
been  the  production  of  some  one  who  was  really  as  ignorant 
of  the  excellent  author  and  her  works  as  he  indeed  professes 
himself.  At  the  same  time  it  is  satisfactory  that  she  lived 
to  see  the  Columbian  States  advanced  so  near  to  the  realiza- 
tion of  all  her  wishes  for  them  ;  while  none  would  rejoice 


1811.]  ENGLAND  AND   THE   UNITED   STATES.  277 

more  fervently  that  her  apprehensions  for  her  own  "beloved 
country  were,  for  the  present  at  least,  without  foundation." 

One  of  the  most  displeasing  parts  of  this  poem  to 
the  critic  of  the  "  Quarterly "  was  the  thought  which 
Mrs.  Barbauld  expressed  as  to  the  brilliant  future  of 
America,  and  the  transfer  of  the  greatness  and  prosper- 
ity of  England  to  our  Western  Continent.  No  critic 
reprimanded  Bishop  Berkeley  for  his  poem  on  that  sub- 
ject, and  Lord  Macaulay,  a  few  years  later,  wrote  un- 
challenged two  passages  which  contain  this  same  idea 
clothed  in  his  magnificent  prose.  Bishop  Berkeley,  in 
his  enthusiasm  for  his  New  World  project,  the  college 
which  he  hoped  to  start  in  the  Bermudas,  wrote  the 
beautiful  lines  which  close  his  poem  "  On  the  Prospect 
of  Planting  Arts  and  Learning  in  America  "  :  — 

"  Westward  the  course  of  empire  takes  its  way  ; 
The  first  four  acts  already  past, 
A  fifth  shall  end  the  drama  Avith  the  day  : 
Time's  noblest  offering  is  the  last." 

And  Macaulay,  some  years  later,  made  use  of  the  very 
images  and  metaphors  of  Mrs.  Barbauld,  clothing  them 
in  his  magnificent,  sonorous  prose,  and  adding  another 
to  the  list  of  those  who  have  predicted,  it  is  to  be 
hoped  without  foundation,  the  future  downfall  of  Eng- 
land. I  insert  here  the  passages  in  which  Macaulay 
alludes  to  the  possible  destruction  of  the  prosperity 


278  LIFE  OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  XII. 

and  civilization  of  Great  Britain.  Speaking  of  the 
Catholic  Church,  in  his  review  of  Mrs.  Austin's  transla- 
tion of  Eanke's  history  of  the  Popes,  he  says  :  "  And 
she  may  still  exist  in  undiminished  vigor  when  some 
traveller  from  New  Zealand  shall,  in  the  midst  of  a  vast 
solitude,  take  his  stand  on  a  broken  arch  of  London 
Bridge  to  sketch  the  ruins  of  St.  Paul's."  In  his  essay  on 
Mitford's  "  History  of  Greece,"  he  enlarges  on  the  same 
idea  :  "  And  when  those  who  have  rivalled  her  greatness 
shall  have  shared  her  fate,  when  civilization  and  knowl- 
edge shall  have  fixed  their  abode  in  distant  continents, 
when  the  sceptre  shall  have  passed  away  from  Eng- 
land, when,  perhaps,  travellers  from  distant  regions 
shall  in  vain  labor  to  decipher  on  some  mouldering 
pedestal  the  name  of  our  proudest  chief,  shall  hear 
savage  hymns  chanted  to  some  misshapen  idol  over  the 
ruined  dome  of  our  proudest  temple,  and  shall  see  a 
single  naked  fisherman  wash  his  nets  in  the  river  of  the 
ten  thousand  masts,  her  influence  and  the  glory  will 
still  survive,  —  fresh  in  eternal  youth,  exempt  from 
mutability  and  decay,  immortal  as  the  intellectual  prin- 
ciple from  which  they  derive  their  origin,  and  over 
which  they  exercise  their  control."  Walpole,  Volney, 
Henry  Kirke  White,  and  Shelley,  have  made  use  of 
this  image,  conveying  the  downfall  of  Great  Britain. 

Mrs.  Barbauld  was  deeply  wounded  by  the  insults 
and    personal   remarks  which   this   poem,   her  latest 


1811.]  FRIENDLY  VISITS.  279 

publication,  received  from  the  prejudice  and  malig- 
nity of  a  critic  who  seems  to  have  seen  in  its  gifted 
and  venerable  author  only  a  mark  for  unfeeling  sarcasm, 
and  the  utterance  of  party  spirit.  Her  judgment  of 
the  future,  her  spirit  of  prophecy,  may  be  doubted :  her 
gloomy  forebodings  have  been  proved  untrue ;  but  the 
highly  patriotic  spirit  and  the  just  pride  with  which 
she  feelingly  alludes  to  the  heroes  whose  fame*she 
sings,  —  the  men  of  learning  whose  names  are  Britain's 
glory,  —  and  the  scenes  made  almost  sacred  by  their 
influence  to  the  future  pilgrim  whose  progress  she 
describes  and  whose  thoughts  she  conceives  in  viewing 
these  grand  ruins,  should  have  softened  the  heart 
and  restrained  the  hand  of  the  critic  from  its  ungracious 
and  unjustifiable  censure.  So  severely  did  the  aged 
author  feel  the  treatment  she  received,  that  she  laid 
aside  all  thoughts  of  collecting  and  publishing  her 
works,  then  long  out  of  print  and  much  sought  after, 
feeling  that  the  day  would  come  when  her  name  would 
secure  respect,  and  her  memory  be  properly  honored ; 
and  she  left  it  with  perfect  confidence  "to  men's 
charitable  speeches,  to  foreign  nations,  and  to  the  next 
ages." 

In  the  following  letter  to  her  friend  Mrs.  Beecroft, 
Mrs.  Barbauld  mentions  her  stay  at  Bristol,  and  a  day 
pleasantly  passed  at  the  home  of  her  old  friend  Miss 
Hannah  More,  who,  with  her  sisters,  was  living  in  her 


280  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  XII. 

delightful  residence  at  Barley  Wood,  the  cottage  which 
she  built  after  living  for  a  time  at  Cowslip  Green.  Mr. 
Kobinson,  in  1811,  refers  frequently  to  calling  on  Mrs. 
Barbauld,  and  to  the  pleasure  which  it  gave  him.  He- 
often  went  to  play  chess  with  her,  —  a  game  which  they 
both  enjoyed. 

To  Mrs.  Beecroft. 

Stoke  Newtngton,  January  1,  1813. 
Many  happy  New  Year's  to  you,  my  dear  friend,  and  may 
they  bring  you  increasing  joy  in  your  children  and  your 
children's  children,  and  in  your  circle  of  friends,  and  in  the 
various  occupations  of  all  sorts  which  the  exercise  of  your 
talents  or  the  offices  of  kindness  engage  you  in  !  To  you  I 
may  wish  this  with  cheerful  hope  of  its  fulfilment.  At  my 
time  of  life,  to  look  forward  to  New  Year's  is  to  contemplate 
the  prospect  of  increasing  languor  and  growing  infirmities. 
Not,  I  am  sure,  that  I  have  any  reason  to  complain,  for  time 
deals  gently  with  me ;  and  though  I  feel  that  I  descend,  the 
slope  is  easy,  and  greatly  thankful  I  am  that  I  have,  so  ac- 
cessible and  so  near  me,  the  friends  and  relatives  that  were 
assembled  at  Christmas  in  order  to  help  me  to  despatch  your 
noble  turkey.  It  was  indeed  so  large  that  I  had  some  diffi- 
culty in  persuading  them  that  it  came  to  me  enclosed  in  a  let- 
ter ;  but  I  pleaded  your  known  veracity,  and  they  submitted. 
Accept,  my  dear  friend,  my  best  thanks,  and  believe  me, 
though  my  pen  (it  is  a  naughty  pen)  has  been  idle,  I  did  not 
want  it  to  put  me  in  mind  of  so  dear  a  friend. 


1813.]  CHARLES   LAMB.  281 

Yes,  I  have  been  at  Bristol  this  summer,  and  spent  there 
almost  the  only  month  that  could  be  called  summer  in  the 
last  year.  I  spent  some  days  at  Bath,  some  at  that  delight- 
ful place,  Clifton ;  and  I  spent  a  day  with  Hannah  More  and 
her  four  sisters  at  her  charming  cottage  under  the  Mendip 
hills,  which  she  has  named  Barley  Wood,  and  which  is 
equally  the  seat  of  taste  and  hospitality.  We  have  had  a 
meeting  here  for  an  auxiliary  Bible  Society.  Many  ladies 
went,  not  indeed  to  speak,  but  to  hear  speaking ;  and  they 
tell  me  they  were  much  entertained  and  interested.  I  hon- 
or the  zeal  of  these  societies ;  but  it  has  become  a  sort  of 
rage,  and,  I  suspect,  outgoes  the  occasion. 

In  Mr.  Robinson's  diary  for  1812  he  alludes  to  a 
party  at  Charles  Aikin's  where  he  went  "  with  Words- 
worth, and  there  met  Mrs.  Barbauld,  the  Aikins,  Miss 
Jane  Porter,  Montgomery  the  poet,  Roscoe, "  and  other 
eminent  people.  He  refers  to  a  call  made  on  the  family 
of  Dr.  Aikin,  where  Charles  Lamb  was  warmly  praised 
by  the  family.  He  remarked  on  the  universality  of 
taste  and  freedom  from  prejudice  of  this  excellent 
family,  to  whom,  by  their  own  request,  he  introduced 
Lamb  a  little  while  after.  Mrs.  Barbauld  also  desired 
the  acquaintance,  and  Mr.  Robinson  speaks  of  bringing 
them  together.  In  May  of  the  same  year,  Mr.  Robin- 
son speaks  of  an  ungenerous  attack  on  Mrs.  Barbauld 
which  was  made  by  Coleridge  in  one  of  his  extraor- 


282  LIFE   OF   MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  XII. 

dinary  rambling  conversations,  which,  were  termed  lec- 
tures in  the  advertisement  of  them.  In  this  he  made 
some  remarks  on  Mrs.  Barbauld,  of  which  Eobinson 
says,  "  I  cannot  forgive  him  for  selecting  alone  (except 
an  attack  on  Pope's  "  Homer,"  qualified  by  insincere 
praise)  Mrs.  Barbauld.  She  is  a  living  writer,  a  woman, 
and  a  person  who,  however  discordant  with  himself  in 
character  and  taste,  has  still  always  shown  him  civil- 
ities and  attentions.  It  was  surely  ungenerous."  .... 
In  this  Mr.  Eobinson  was  quite  right ;  Mrs.  Barbauld 
had  shown  Coleridge  much  kindness,  and  her  admiration 
of  his  talents  and  anxiety  for  his  future  progress  were 
finely  expressed  in  the  lines  addressed  to  him  in  1797. 
In  these  she  exhorted  him  to  use  with  energy  the  genius 
and  powers  of  mind  which  he  showed  he  possessed. 
But  his  habits  of  indolence  and  the  vice  of  opium- 
eating  were  his  great  misfortunes,  and  more  powerful 
than  the  voice  of  duty  and  of  friendly  warning.  He 
rather  resented  the  poem,  it  is  to  be  believed,  and 
says  some  rather  disagreeable  things  of  Mrs.  Barbauld 
in  some  of  his  letters  and  diaries,  —  repeating  also 
something  said  by  Charles  Lamb,  who,  when  himself, 
had  a  high  admiration  of  Mrs.  Barbauld.  These  re- 
marks are  unworthy  of  notice,  being  evidently  the  result 
of  a  morbid  and  unhappy  state  of  mind  in  Coleridge. 
Lamb  used  jocosely  to  call  Mrs.  Barbauld  and  Mrs. 
Inchbald,  the  novelist,  "  the  two  bald  women." 


1813.]  STATE   OF   SOCIETY.  283 

To  Mrs.  J.  Taylor. 

May,  1813. 

....  There  is  certainly  at  present  a  great  deal  of  zeal  in 
almost  every  persuasion ;  certainly  much  more  in  England, 
as  far  as  I  am  able  to  judge,  than  when  I  was  young.  I  often 
speculate  upon  what  it  will  produce,  —  not  uniformity  of 
opinion  certainly ;  that  is  a  blessing  we  seem  not  destined 
here  to  enjoy,  if  indeed  it  would  be  a  blessing.  But  will  it 
tend  to  universal  toleration  and  enlarged  liberality  of  think- 
ing %  or,  with  increase  of  zeal,  will  the  church  spirit  of  big- 
otry revive,  and  unite  with  the  increasing  power  of  govern- 
ment to  crush  the  spirit  of  research  and  freedom  of  opinion  1 
Bible  societies,  missionary  schemes,  lectures,  schools  for  the 
poor,  are  set  on  foot  and  spread,  not  so  much  from  a  sense  of 
duty  as  from  being  the  real  taste  of  the  times ;  and  I  am 
told  that  Mrs.  Siddons's  readings  are  much  patronized  by  the 
evangelical  people,  as  they  are  called,  of  fashion,  who  will 
not  enter  the  doors  of  a  theatre.  Would  that  with  all  this 
there  could  be  seen  some  little  touch  of  feeling  for  the  mis- 
eries of  war,  that  are  desolating  the  earth  without  end  or 
measure  !  One  should  be  glad  to  see  some  suspicion  arise 
that  it  was  not  consistent  with  the  spirit  of  the  Gospel ;  but 
this  you  do  not  see  even  in  good  people. 

....  Friends  at  a  distance  do  not  want  some  medium 
of  sympathy,  though  they  do  not  meet.  I  have  sometimes 
looked  upon  new  books  in  that  light.  When  I  peruse  a  book 
of  merit  to  be  generally  read,  I  feel  sure,  though  not  informed 
of  it,  that  precisely  the  same  stream  of  ideas  which  is  flowing 


284  LIFE  OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  XII. 

through  my  mind  is  flowing  through  my  friend's  also ;  and 
without  any  communication,  either  by  word  or  letter,  I  know 
that  he  has  admired  and  criticised,  and  laughed  and  wept,  as 
I  have  done. 

In  June  of  this  year  Mr.  Kobinson  speaks  of  a  call 
on  Mrs.  Barbauld.  He  says :  "  Had  a  pleasant  chat  with 
her  about  Madame  De  Stael,  the  Edgeworths,"  etc. 
And  he  then  goes  on  to  relate  an  anecdote  of  Mr. 
Edgeworth  and  Mrs.  Siddons,  which  shows  some  of  Mr. 
Edgeworth's  peculiarities.  Mrs.  Siddons,  perhaps,  would 
have  consented  to  join  the  society  which,  I  think,  was 
proposed  by  Lord  Byron  for  the  suppression  of  that 
excellent  man  Mr.  Edgeworth,  who  was  very  trying 
in  many  ways;  though  four  agreeable  and  charming 
women  found  him  sufficiently  attractive  and  inter- 
esting to  marry.  In  the  preceding  letter  to  Mrs. 
Taylor,  Mrs.  Barbauld  comments  on  the  state  of  re- 
ligious zeal  and  the  very  numerous  charitable  societies 
then  in  vogue,  the  motive  being  not  a  sense  of  duty  so 
much  as  the  spirit  of  the  times.  She  questions  whether 
liberality  of  opinion  will  go  hand  in  hand  with  all  these 
benevolent  plans,  and  hopes  for  it. 

To  Mrs.  Fletcher. 

September,  1813. 
My  dear  Madam,  —  I  have  to  thank  you  for  your  very 
entertaining  letter.     I  would  have  undergone  a  good  wetting, 


1813.]  MRS.    MONTAGUE.  285 

and  even  a  suspicion  of  danger,  to  have  enjoyed  the  grandeur 
of  your  thunder-storm.  Indeed,  I  am  rather  partial  to  a 
death  by  lightning,  and,  were  I  to  choose  the  mode  of  my 
departure,  should  certainly  prefer  to  be  "  by  touch  ethereal 
slain."  However,  as  I  have  no  right  to  choose  for  you,  I  am 
glad  you  got  shelter  under  the  roof  of  your  hospitable  though 
penurious  farmer.  Surely  he  must  be  a  phenomenon  even  in 
the  Highlands  ;  but  I  believe  it  is  rare  in  all  professions  for 
the  same  person  to  amass  and  to  enjoy  riches.  Even  with 
regard  to  the  treasures  of  the  mind,  which  one  should  sup- 
pose would  include  the  power  of  using  them,  the  laborious 
collector  of  facts  and  dates  produces  some  ponderous  volume, 
which  sleeps  on  the  shelf  till  some  light  and  airy  wit  skims 
it  for  tale  and  anecdote,  or  some  original  genius  shapes  and 
moulds  it  into  a  system. 

I  am  now  reading  the  third  and  fourth  volumes  of  Mrs. 
Montague's  Letters.  To  me,  who  have  lived  through  all  the 
time  she  writes  of,  they  are  interesting  —  independent  of  the 
wit  and  talent  —  as  recalling  a  number  of  persons  and  events 
once  present  to  my  mind  j  they  are  also,  I  think,  very  enter- 
taining, though,  as  letters,  somewhat  studied.  With  all  her 
advantages  she  seems  not  to  have  been  happy.  She  married 
not  Mr.  Montague  from  affection.  It  is  evident  she  looked 
upon  him  as  a  wise  and  kind  friend,  but  nothing  more ;  a 
little  too  wise  sometimes,  when  he  kept  her  in  the  country 
longer  than  she  liked.  To  a  person  so  married,  nothing  will 
fill  the  mind  and  give  a  permanent  interest  to  life  but  chil- 
dren.    She  lost  her  child ;  and  notwithstanding  all  that  na- 


286  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BAKBAULD.  [Chap.  XII. 

ture  and  all  that  fortune  had  given,  and  high  cultivation,  and 
chosen  society,  and  public  esteem,  she  speaks  of  life  as  a 
thing  to  be  got  through,  rather  than  to  be  enjoyed. 

In  this  letter  to  her  friend  Mrs.  Fletcher,  Mrs.  Bar- 
bauld  expresses  the  interest  she  has  felt  in  reviving  old 
associations  and  times  past  by  reading  the  letters  of 
Mrs.  Montague  which  had  recently  been  published  by 
her  nephew.  The  letters  must  have  brought  back  to 
her  memories  pleasant  and  sad  of  the  circle  whose 
members  had  mostly  passed  away,  of  which  she  was 
one  of  the  few  survivors. 

To  Mrs.  Beecroft. 

Stoke  NEwrxGTON,  September,  1813. 
"We  have  had  great  pleasure  in  seeing  again  our  friend  Dr. 

H after  a  tour  through  Spain,  Sicily,  and  Greece.    Pray, 

do  you  intend  to  learn  modern  Greek  1  I  suspect  it  will  grow 
quite  fashionable,  from  the  many  tourists  .to  Athens  we  have 
had  of  late  ;  particularly  if  Eustace  succeeds  in  persuading  us 
to  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  French  jargon,  as  he  is  pleased 
to  call  the  language  of  Bossuet  and  of  Bacine.  I  suppose 
you  have  read  Lord  Byron's  Giaour,  —  and  which  edition  ] 
because  there  are  five,  and  in  every  one  he  adds  about  fifty 
lines ;  so  that  the  different  editions  have  rather  the  sisterly 
likeness  which  Ovid  says  the  Xereids  had,  than  the  identity 
expected  by  the  purchasers  of  the  same  work.  And  pray  do 
you  say  Lord  Byron,  or  Byron,  in  defiance  of  the  y  and  our 
old  friend  in  Sir  Charles  Grandison  %     And  do  you  pronounce 


1813.]  OLD   AGE.  287 

Giaour  hard  g  or  soft  g  1  And  do  you  understand  the  poem 
at  first  reading  ?  —  because  Lord  Byron  and  the  Edinburgh 
reviewers  say  you  are  very  stupid  if  you  don't ;  and  yet  the 
same  reviewers  have  thought  proper  to  prefix  the  story  to 
help  your  apprehension.  AH  these,  unimportant  as  you  may 
think  them,  are  matters  of  discussion  here. 

Mrs.  Barbauld,  in  the  following  letter  to  Mrs.  Estlin 
and  her  husband,  speaks  of  old  age  and  the  false 
sentiment  of  Pope  regarding  the  last  years  of  life. 
She  thinks  the  u  idea  beautiful,  but  false,"  and  says  the 
later  years  of  life  are  usually  spent  in  ill-health  or 
lethargy.  But  whatever  may  have  been  her  observation 
of  others,  such  was  not  her  case.  She  was  interested 
and  animated  by  all  that  passed  in  the  world,  and 
though  not  an  active  participant  in  literature  and  book- 
making,  was  a  reader  of  all  that  was  new  and  valuable. 
Society  had  its  charms  for  her,  and  the  circle  she  graced 
was  often  adorned  by  her  genial  and  kindly  presence. 
Her  fine  conversation  and  beautiful  face  lent  an  ad- 
ditional attraction  to  the  intelligent  and  literary  gather- 
ings where  she  was  frequently  to  be  seen. 

Stoke  Newington,  December,  1813. 

....  If  you  ask  what  /  am  doing,  —  nothing.     Pope,  I 

think,  somewhere  says,  "  The  last  years  of  life,  like  tickets 

left  in  the  wheel,  rise  in  value."     The  thought  is  beautiful, 

but  false ;  they  are  of  very  little  value.     They  are  generally 


288  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  XII. 

past  either  in  struggling  with  pains  and  infirmities,  or  in  a 
dreamy  kind  of  existence;  no  new  veins  of  thought  are 
opened ;  no  young  affections  springing  up ;  the  ship  has 
taken  in  its  lading,  whatever  it  may  be,  whether  precious 
stones  or  lumber,  and  lies  idly  flapping  its  sails,  and  waiting 
for  the  wind  that  must  drive  it  upon  the  wide  ocean. 

Have  you  seen  Lord  Byron's  new  poem,  "The  Bride  of 
Abydos  *"  and  have  you  read  Madame  de  StaeTs  "  Germany  1" 
You  will  find  in  the  latter  many  fine  ideas,  beautiful  senti- 
ments, and  entertaining  remarks  on  manners  and  countries ; 
but  in  her  account  of  Kant  and  other  German  philosophers 
she  has  got,  I  fancy,  a  little  out  of  her  depth.  She  herself 
is,  or  affects  to  be,  very  devotional ;  but  her  religion  seems 
to  be  almost  wholly  a  matter  of  imagination,  —  the  beau  ideal 
impressed  upon  us  at  our  birth,  along  with  a  taste  for  beauty, 
for  music,  &c.  As  far  as  I  understand  her  account  of  the 
German  schools,  there  seems  to  be  in  many  of  them  a  design 
to  reinstate  the  doctrine  of  innate  ideas,  which  the  cold  phi- 
losophy, as  they  would  call  it,  of  Locke  discarded.  They 
would  like  Beattie  and  Hutcheson  better  than  Paley  or 
Priestley.  I  do  not  like  Lord  Byron's  poem  quite  so  well  as 
his  last ;  and  I  cannot  see  any  advantage  in  calling  a  night- 
ingale bulbul,  or  a  rose  gul,  except  to  disconcert  plain  Eng- 
lish readers. 

To  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Estlin. 

Stoke  Newington,  January,  1814. 
Yes,  my  dear  friends,  't  is  as  I  said  :  you  are  snowed  up  at 
the  Hyde,  very,  comfortable,  I  dare  say,  with  a  fine  library 


1814.]  CORRESPONDENCE.  289 

and  prints,  &c,  and  I  hope  a  cheerful  Christmas  party ;  at 
least,  if  the  party  is  there,  you  will  make  them  so.  But 
whether  the  enclosed  will  ever  come  to  your  hands  is  a  mel- 
ancholy consideration ;  for  if  you  offer  to  stir,  I  expect  you 
will  be  buried  in  the  snow,  in  which  case  I  intend  to  write 
your  epitaph,  — "  Here  lies,  &c,  in  candor  and  purity  of 
mind  equalling  the  snow  that  covers  them  " ;  or  "  Reflect- 
ing light  from  heaven  on  the  world  around  them " ;  or 
"  They  were  lovely  in  their  lives,  and  in  their  deaths  they 
were  not  divided  "  ;  or 

1 '  While  far  from  home 

They  sought  to  roam, 
By  wandering  fancies  seized, 

'T  wixt  earth  and  sky 

They  buried  He, 
For  so  the  Fates  hare  pleased." 

The  lines,  I  own,  are  not  very  finished ;  but  it  is  not  worth 
while  to  take  much  pains  about  them,  unless  one  were  sure 
of  the  catastrophe.  On  the  supposition,  however,  that  you 
will  be  reading  this  comfortably  by  ^Ir.  Coates's  fireside, 
accept,  my  dear  friends,  my  thanks  for  the  pleasant  days  — 
very  pleasant,  but  very  few  —  that  you  were  so  good  as  to 
bestow  upon  me ;  if  you  can  enlarge  the  gift,  most  thank- 
fully shall  I  receive  it. 

Stoke  Newixgton,  January,  1814. 
My  dear  Mrs.  Beecroft,  —  There  are  animals  that  sleep 
all  the  winter ;  I  am,  I  believe,  become  one  of  them  :  they 
creep  into  holes   during  the  same  season;  /  have  confined 

13  8 


290  LIFE   OF   MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  XII. 

myself  to  the  fireside  of  a  snug  parlor.  If,  indeed,  a  warm 
sunshiny  day  occurs,  they  sometimes  creep  out  of  their  holes  ; 
so,  now  and  then,  have  /.  They  exist  in  a  state  of  torpor ; 
so  have  /  done :  the  only  difference  being,  that  /  have  all 
the  while  continued  the  habit  of  eating  and  drinking,  which, 
to  their  advantage,  they  can  dispense  with.  But  my  mind 
has  certainly  been  asleep  all  the  while  ;  and  whenever  I  have 
attempted  to  employ  it,  I  have  felt  an  oppression  in  my  head 
which  has  obliged  me  to  desist.  What  wonderful  events 
have  passed  during  the  last  few  months  !  How  new  is  the 
very  name  of  peace  to  us  all ;  and  to  those  of  thirty  and  un- 
der, it  is  a  state  that,  since  they  were  able  to  reflect  at  all 
on  public  affairs,  they  have  never  known.  London  seems  to 
have  nothing  to  do  now,  but  to  give  feasts  and  pop  away  all 
the  spare  gunpowder  in  rockets  and  feux-de-joie  in  honor  of 
its  illustrious  guests.  Everybody  has  been  idle  since  these 
royal  personages  came  amongst  us.  It  is  in  vain  even  to  be- 
speak a  pair  of  shoes,  —  not  a  man  will  work  ;  and  I  imagine 
Alexander  must  be  greatly  puzzled,  when  the  concourse  in 
the  streets  from  morning  till  night  shows  how  many  there 
are  that  are  doing  nothing,  and  the  shops  and  manufactures 
how  much  has  been  done. 

In  the  preceding  letter  to  Mrs.  Beecroft,  Mrs.  Bar- 
bauld  rejoices  most  sincerely  at  the  universal  peace 
which  then  pervaded  Europe.  She  speaks  of  the 
strange  feeling  it  must  give  to  the  young,  to  experience 
this  new  sensation  which  they  could  never  have  pre- 
viously known.     Here,  as  everywhere  in  her  writings, 


1814.]  PEACE    IX    EUROPE.  291 

she  expressed  her  great  horror  of  war  and  its  attendant 
evils.  In  the  following  letter  to  Mrs.  Fletcher,  Mrs. 
Barbauld  is  full  of  excitement  on  the  extraordinary 
events  which  succeeded  each  other  with  startling  rapid- 
ity in  France.  And  Spain,  she  writes,  — "  Spain  has 
disappointed  all  our  hopes,  —  'Down  with  the  Cortes  ! 
up  with  the  Inquisition  1 '  being  the  popular  cry  there." 
She  thinks  that  the  lesson  to  be  learned  from  all  these 
changes  and  revolutions  is,  "  that  the  concerns  and 
destinies  of  all  the  world  are  too  high  for  us ;  that  we 
must  wait  the  winding  up  of  the  drama,  and  be  satis- 
fied in  promoting  and  enjoying  the  happiness  in  our 
own  little  circle."  She  speaks  of  the  three  distinguished 
women  then  in  London,  who  were  the  objects  of  great 
interest,  —  Madame  de  Stael,  Miss  Edgeworth,  and  the 
Duchess  of  Oldenburgh.  "  The  kings  and  emperors," 
then  in  London  after  the  peace,  and  the  rejoicing  at  the 
happy  termination  of  the  long  struggles,  she  hopes  will 
bring  Mrs.  Fletcher  and  Miss  Fletcher  to  London.  In 
her  letter  to  the  same  friend,  written  in  August  of  the 
same  year,  she  speaks  of  the  quiet  of  London  after  the 
close  of  this  crowded  season. 

To  Mrs.  Fletcher. 

Stoke  Newington,  June,  1814. 
What  do  I  think  of  the  French !     In  the  first  place,  it 
requires  some  time  before  one  can  think  at  all,  events  succeed 


292  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  XII. 

each  other  with  such  astonishing  rapidity.  The  constitution 
held  out  to  the  king's  acceptance  was  indeed  all  one  can  wish, 
—  the  principles  of  liberty  were  carried  further  than  even  in 
ours,  —  but  you  see  he  has  not  signed  it ;  and  if  he  had,  it 
is  a  jest  to  talk  of  a  constitution,  when  three  or  four  foreign 
armies  are  in  the  kingdom. 

France,  proud  France,  gallant  France,  is  a  conquered  coun- 
try. I  do  not  think  we  yet  know  her  real  inclinations  ;  con- 
vulsed by  a  revolution,  tyrannized  over  by  a  despot,  and  owing 
her  deliverance  to  her  very  enemies,  —  how  she  is  humbled, 
how  much  she  has  suffered  ;  but  how  much  she  has  inflicted  ! 
The  French,  however,  have  a  better  chance  for  happiness  with 
the  mild  imbecility  of  the  Bourbons  than  with  Napoleon. 

This  was  written  a  week  ago  ;  and  now  Spain  —  Spain 
has  disappointed  all  our  hopes  :  "  Down  with  the  Cortes,  — 
up  with  the  Inquisition !  "  and,  as  at  Naples  some  years  ago, 
the  few  fine  spirits  who  would  have  rejoiced  in  a  better  order 
of  things  will  be  consigned  to  dungeons.  I  do  not  know 
what  we  can  gather  from  the  contemplation  of  all  these  revo- 
lutions but  this  :  that  the  concerns  and  destinies  of  all  the 
world  are  too  high  for  us  ;  that  we  must  wait  the  winding 
up  of  the  drama,  and  be  satisfied  in  promoting  and  enjoying 
the  happiness  of  our  own  little  circle 

The  three  persons  who  have  most  engaged  the  attention  of 
London  societies  this  year  have  been  women  :  Miss  Edge- 
worth,  Madame  de  Stael,  and  now  the  Duchess  of  Olden- 
burgh,  who  shows,  they  say,  a  most  rational  and  unsated  curi- 
osity.    But  kings  and  emperors  are  now  appearing  on  the 


1814.]  PEACE  IN   EUROPE.  293 

stage,  and  the  lesser  lights  must  "  pale  their  ineffectual  fires." 
Dear  madam,  will  not  you  and  Miss  F.  come  to  London  to 
see  all  these  sights  ]  You  are  much  mistaken  if  you  think, 
as  you  seem  to  do,  that  you  shall  find  us  anxiously  speculat- 
ing about  the  liberties  of  Europe.  We  shall  be  squeezing  to 
get  a  sight  of  Alexander,  and  taking  tickets  for  fetes,  and 
looking  at  the  Prince's  fireworks,  and  criticising  the  Olden- 
burgh  hat,  and  picking  up  anecdotes  to  shine  with  in  the 
next  party.  Shall  I  be  equally  mistaken,  or  shall  I  not, 
when  I  suppose  that  you  in  Edinburgh  are  deep  in  mathe- 
matics and  metaphysics  with  Dugald  Stewart]  I  want  to 
know  how  his  work  is  relished.  I  am  glad  he  has  spoken  a 
good  word  for  final  causes,  the  search  for  which,  under  the 
guidance  of  judgment  and  impartiality,  certainly  assists  in- 
vestigation as  truly  as  it  is  the  reward  of  it. 

To  Mrs.  Fletcher. 

Stoke  Newixgton,  August,  1814. 
....  "What  an  alteration  a  few  weeks  has  made  in  Lon- 
don !  If  you  but  crossed  the  street  a  month  ago,  you  had  a 
chance  of  meeting  a  prince  or  an  emperor ;  and  now  it  is 
empty  beyond  the  usual  emptiness  of  summer,  and  every- 
body you  meet  has  been,  or  is  planning  to  go,  across  the 
Channel.  I  am  sorry  to  say,  that  among  my  female  ac- 
quaintance the  joy  of  bringing  home,  cleverly  concealed, 
shawls,  lace,  &c,  seems  to  dwell  more  upon  the  fancy  than 
museums  of  art  or  new  scenes  of  nature ;  and  truly,  some  of 
the-young  men  seem  better  able  to  criticise  French  cookery 


294  LIFE   OF   MRS.    BARBAUUD.  [Chap.  XII. 

than  French  conversation,  or  the  Venus  and  Apollo.  Is 
there  not  something  strange  and  rather  revolting  in  speaking 
of  the  French,  as  most  have  done  for  these  twenty  years 
past,  with  the  utmost  abhorrence  and  contempt,  —  and  pour- 
ing ourselves  over  their  country  the  moment  it  is  accessible, 
to  mix  in  their  parties  and  bring  home  their  fashions  ?  .  .  .  . 
"We  have  been  full  fed  with  novels  lately,  and  shall  be  with 
poems.  Think  of  a  thick  quarto  of 's,  entitled  Frag- 
ments, being  only  a  taste  of  the  second  part  of  a  poem,  which 
I  suppose  he  means  to  give  us  some  time  or  other.  I  should 
like  to  supply  him  with  a  motto  :  —  "  And  of  the  fragments 
there  were  taken  up  twelve  baskets  full." 

To  Mrs.  Estlin. 

1814 

My  days  of  travelling  are  now  nearly  over ;  yet  I  find  a 
little  variety  as  necessary,  perhaps,  to  relieve  the  tedium  of 
life,  as  once  it  was  to  recruit  from  its  toils  and  avocations. 
I  do  not  know  how  it  is  with  you  at  Bristol,  but  in  most 
places  there  has  been  lately  a  migration  into  France  of  almost 
all  who  could  command  money  and  time.  I  was  amused 
with  the  contrast  between  a  lively,  pleasant-tempered  man 
and  a  poco  curante.  "  How  do  you  like  France  ? "  said  I  to 
the  first.  "  I  have  spent,"  said  he,  "  seven  weeks  of  unin- 
terrupted happiness."  "  How  do  you  like  France  ? "  to  the 
second.  "  I  have  been  there  because  one  must  go,  one  is 
ashamed  not  to  have  been  ;  it  is  a  thing  over."  M  A  lively 
nation  1  "  "  Manners  quite  spoiled,  no  agreeable  company." 
"  It  is  possible  they  may  not  be  partial  to  the  English  just 


1814.]  WALTER   SCOTT    IN    LONDON.  295 

now,  as  we  have  so  lately  been  with  fire  and  sword  into  their 
territory ;  —  but  the  museums  1 "  "  Valuable,  to  be  sure  ; 
but  they  do  not  properly  belong  to  Paris."  "  The  theatres, 
sir  % "  "  xTow  and  then,  when  Talma  acts  :  but  to  visit  all 
their  little  paltry  theatres,  and  every  evening,  as  some  do,  — 
I  had  rather  sit  at  home  in  my  chamber  and  read."  And  so 
ended  my  dialogue  with  the  poco  curante.  INbt  with  such 
indifference,  but  with  the  strong  feelings  which  you  who  wit- 
nessed  the    destruction  of  the    Bastille  can  appreciate,  Mr. 

says  he  should  abhor  going  to  Paris.    As  to  the  ladies  who 

go,  they  think  of  nothing  but  smuggling  lace  and  silk  shawls. 

In  the  following  letter  to  Mrs.  Estlin,  Mrs.  Barbauld 
herself  alludes  to  meeting  the  lion  of  the  London  season, 
Sir  Walter  Scott ;  and  Miss  Aikin  also  mentions  it  in  a 
letter  written  to  her  brother. 

My  dear  Mrs.  Estlin,  —  I  have  just  been  reading,  as 
probably  you  have  also,  six  close  volumes  of  Miss  Seward's 
letters,  which  she  informs  us  was  only  a  twelfth  part  of  her 
correspondence  in,  I  think,  twenty  years.     I  have  also  been 

reading  a  letter  of  the  poet  M 's  to  my  brother,  in  which, 

apologizing  for  his  long  silence,  he  says,  "  I  verily  believe 
that  if  I  had  been  an  antediluvian,  I  could  have  let  a  hun- 
dred years  pass  between  every  letter,  and  feel  the  most  vio- 
lent twinges  of  conscience  every  day  of  that  century  for  my 
omission,  without  their  working  any  reformation  in  that  re- 
spect." Xow  I  look  upon  myself  to  be  between  both  these 
characters ;  to  which  I  approximate  most,  I  must  leave  you 
to  determine. 


296  LIFE   OF   MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  XII. 

Everybody  has  been  abroad,  this  uncommonly  fine  summer, 
but  my  brother  and  sister  and  myself.  I  spent  one  day  only 
at  Hampstead,  —  where  I  met  Walter  Scott,  the  lion  of  this 
London  season,  —  and  one  day  at  Chigwell.  The  road  to 
Chigwell  is  through  a  part  of  Hainault  Forest;  and  we  stopped 
to  look  at  Eairlop  oak,  one  of  the  largest  in  England ;  a  com- 
plete ruin,  but  a  noble  ruin,  which  it  is  impossible  to  see 
without  thinking  of  Cowper's  beautiful  line,  "Who  lived 
when  thou  wast  such."  The  immovable  rocks  and  moun- 
tains present  us  rather  with  an  idea  of  eternity  than  of  long 
life.  There  they  are,  and  there  they  have  been  before  the 
birth  of  nations.  The  tops  of  the  everlasting  hills  have 
been  seen  covered  with  snow  from  the  earliest  records  of 
time.  But  a  tree,  that  has  life  and  growth  like  ourselves, 
that,  like  ourselves,  was  once  small  and  feeble,  that  certainly 
some  time  began  to  be,  —  to  see  it  attain  a  size  so  enormous, 
and  in  its  bulk  and  its  slow  decay  bear  record  of  the  genera- 
tions it  has  outlived,  —  this  brings  our  comparative  feeble- 
ness strongly  in  view.  "  Man  passeth  away,  and  where  is 
he  ? "  while  "  the  oak  of  our  fathers  "  will  be  the  oak  of  their 
children,  and  their  children. 

In  Miss  Aikin's  letter  to  her  brother  Edmund,  in 
1815,  she  tells  him  of  a  dinner  at  the  Carrs'  in  Hamp- 
stead, when  her  aunt  and  their  family  were  invited  to 
meet  Scott.  "  Nothing  could  persuade  my  father  to  go, 
so  my  aunt  said  she  would  take  me  instead,  and  I  had 
not  the  grace  to  say  no.  A  charming  day  we  had.  I 
did  not,  indeed,  see  much  of  the  great  lion ;    for   we 


1815.]  THE   BLESSIXG   OF   PEACE.  297 

were  fourteen  at  dinner,  of  whom  about  half  were  con- 
stantly talking,  and  neither  at  table  nor  after  was  I 
very  near  him ;  but  he  was  delighted  to  see  my  aunt, 
and  paid  her  great  attention,  which  I  was  very  glad  of. 
He  told  her  that  the  '  Tramp,  tramp,'  '  Splash,  splash ' 
of  Taylor's  '  Lenora '  which  she  had  carried  into  Scotland 
many  years  ago,  was  what  made  him  a  poet."  This 
interesting  anecdote,  which  Mrs.  Barbauld's  modesty 
naturally  prevented  her  telling  her  correspondent,  pleas- 
antly connects  her  with  the  "  "Wizard  of  the  Xorth  "  as 
an  inspiration  and  a  friend. 

Stoke  Newtngtow,  January,  1815. 

My  dear  Mrs.  Beecroft,  —  Thanks  for  your  kind  letter, 
and  for  the  finest  turkey  I  ever  saw,  which  arrived  without 
accident,  and  fulfilled  the  end  of  its  being  —  its  fattening,  at 
least— last  Tuesday  amid  the  commendations  of  the  whole 
party.  I  cannot  tell  where  the  spirit  went ;  but  I  hope  it  is 
animating  some  other  vehicle,  and  rising  by  degrees  in  the 
scale  of  existence,  till  perhaps  it  may  come  at  length  (who 
knows)  to  eat  turkeys  itself. 

I  give  you  joy  of  the  Peace.     It  ought  to  last  at  least  for 

this  next  twenty  years ;  for  though  I  am  afraid  war  and 

peace  must  always  take  their  turns,  like  day  and  night  in 

the  natural  world,  I  think  War  ought  to  be  satisfied,  as  the 

other  dark  and  unlovely  power  is,  with  share  and  share  alike. 

The  two  striking  features  of  the  present  times  in  Britain  are 

religion  and  charity ;  and  I  shoidd  think  they  are  both  of 

them  well  inclined  to  pacific  measures. 
13* 


298  LIFE   OF   MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  XII. 

In  this  letter  Mrs.  Barbauld  again  alludes  to  the  happy 
event  which  had  filled  the  minds  of  people,  —  Peace  ; 
and  she  thinks  it  should  last  long  to  compensate  for 
the  terrible  times  which  had  passed.  In  Mrs.  Barbauld's 
letter  of  1814  to  Mrs.  Estlin,  she  speaks  of  the  people 
who  rushed  over  to  France  at  the  opening  of  that 
country,  which  war  had  long  closed  to  the  English,  and 
tells  her  of  the  smuggling  done  by  the  ladies,  who  think 
of  nothing  but  running  in  silks  and  satins ;  while  some 
of  the  men  who  go  over  seem  to  have  very  little  taste 
or  enjoyment  of  the  country.  She  mentions  one  gentle- 
man, who  told  her  he  had  "  rather  sit  at  home  in  his 
chamber  and  read"  than  visit  the  French  theatres. 
And  he  found  fault  in  the  same  strain  with  everything 
French.  In  the  following  letter  of  condolence  with 
Mrs.  Fletcher  on  the  loss  of  her  daughter,  one  sees  the 
tender  feeling  and  warm  sympathy  which  came  directly 
from  the  amiable  writer's  heart.  Her  friends  always 
found  her  full  of  interest  and  thought  for  them  in  the 
joyful  and  sad  events  in  which  all  must  have  their 
share. 

April,  1817. 
Dear  Madam,  —  It  has  been  the  impulse  of  my  heart  to 
write  to  you,  and  yet  I  hardly  know  how.  What  can  I  say  1 
How  can  I  express  the  shock  this  awful,  this  most  affecting 
event  has  given  me,  has  given  all  of  us  !  How  are  the  fair- 
est hopes  destroyed !  How  are  the  dearest  ties  severed ! 
"When  was  the  uncertainty  of  life  and  all  its  hopes  exempli- 


1817.]  MRS.    FARRAE'S   "RECOLLECTIONS."  299 

fied  in  a  more  solemn  manner  !  Dear  Grace  !  I  had  hoped 
myself  some  time,  perhaps  this  summer,  to  see  more  of  her,  — 
to  see  her  open  the  stores  of  her  mind,  —  to  see  the  modest 
flower  expand  and  show  all  its  lustre  ;  but  it  is  shut  up 
forever  here,  to  blow,  I  trust,  in  a  happier  climate.  Young 
as  she  was,  she  has  seen,  perhaps,  the  best  of  life.  Like 
Young's  Narcissa,  "  She  sparkled,  was  exhaled,  and  went  to 
heaven."  No  long  sickness  to  wear  the  mind  as  well  as 
body ;  none  of  the  decays  incident  to  a  more  advanced 
period  ;  she  leaves  life,  it  is  true,  in  all  its  freshness,  but 
without  having  tasted  its  cares  or  sorrows. 

And  is  it  nothing  to  have  raised  and  cultured  such  a  mind  1 
Is  she  not  fitter  for  another  state,  with  higher  powers,  than 
many  a  one  who  has  passed  sixty  years  of  a  drowsy  exist- 
ence !  May  we  not  presume  that  —  like  a  forward  schoolboy, 
who  has  run  rapidly  through  his  classes  and  left  the  school, 
while  others  of  his  own  age  and  standing  are  still  drudging 
on  —  she  will  step  into  a  higher  form  with  more  advan- 
tages 1  0  but,  I  think  I  hear  you  say,  the  mother's  heart 
must  bleed.  It  must  •  I  know  it.  God  comfort  you,  my 
dear  Mrs.  F.,  and  Mr.  F.,  and  all  your  family.  Your  mind 
will  turn,  I  know  it  will,  to  the  promising  children  you  still 
have.  One  jewel  has  fallen  from  your  maternal  crown,  but 
many  remain ;  you  are  still  rich.  May  God  enable  you  to 
bear  what  he  has  laid  upon  you  ! 

In  Mrs.  Farrar's  "  Recollections  of  Seventy  Years  "  she 
mentions  Mrs.  Barbauld,  and  says  that  her  mother 
made   her   acquaintance   while   she  was  writing   "  for 


300  LIFE   OF  MKS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  XII. 

the  benefit  of  her  little  nephew,  Charles  Aikin,  those 
hymns  and  lessons  which  have  since  delighted  so 
many  children  both  in  the  Old  and  New  World." 
She  adds  that  this  acquaintance  was  kept  np :  "I  re- 
member sitting  on  Mrs.  Barbanld's  lap  and  her  asking 
me  if  I  could  read,  and  what  book  I  was  then  reading ; 
I  answered  '  Barbauld's  Lessons/  quite  unconscious  that 
I  was  sitting  in  the  lap  of  their  author.  She  then  said 
'  I  suppose  you  study  geography,  and  can  tell  me  what 
ocean  is  between  England  and  America  ? ' "  Mrs.  Farrar 
adds  that,  her  mother  having  relatives  in  America  to 
whom  she  wrote  often,  she  was  able  to  answer  this 
question;  but  fearing  that  the  next  might  be  more 
difficult,  she  slid  down  from  the  perch,  where  she  was 
very  comfortable,  and  ran  off.  She  says,  "  I  often  met 
her  after  I  was  grown  up,  and  remember  her  as  a  sweet- 
looking,  lively  old  lady,  wearing  her  gray  hair,  which 
was  then  uncommon,  reading  aloud  to  a  circle  of  young 
people  on  a  rainy  morning  in  the  country.  She  read 
well ;  the  book  was  '  Guy  Mannering,'  then  just  pub- 
lished." Mrs.  Barbauld  then  made  them  all  draw  their 
impressions  of  the  witch,  and  kept  that  done,  by  Mrs. 
Farrar' s  sister.  "  The  kind  old  lady  "  and  her  pleasant 
manners  made  much  of  an  impression  on  the  youthful 
mind  of  Mrs.  Farrar,  who  long  after  recalled  w?ith  pleas- 
ure her  venerable  friend. 

Mr.  Eobinson,  in  the  diary  for  1816,  writes  of  Febru- 


1817.]  HER   OPIXIOX   OF   BYRON.  301 

ary  11,  "I  walked  to  Xewington  and  dined  with  Mrs. 
Barbauld  and  Miss  Finch;  Miss  Hammond  and  Charles 
Aikin  were  there.  As  usual,  we  were  very  comfortable ; 
Mrs.  Barbauld  can  keep  up  a  lively  argumentative 
conversation  as  well  as  any  one  I  know,  and  at  an 
advanced  age  (she  is  turned  seventy)  she  is  certainly 
the  best  specimen  of  female  Presbyterian  society  in 
the  country.  —  X.  B.  Anthony  Robinson  requested  me 
to  inquire  whether  she  thought  the  doctrine  of  Univer- 
sal Restoration  scriptural.  She  said  she  thought  we 
must  bring  to  the  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures  a 
very  liberal  notion  of  the  beneficence  of  the  Deity  to 
find  the  doctrine  there." 

In  July  of  the  same  year,  Mr.  Eobinson  wrote  of 
taking  tea  and  playing  chess  with  Mrs.  Barbauld.  In  the 
diary  of  May  26, 1817,  he  made  the  following  entry  :  — 
"After  dining  with -the  Colliers  I  walked  to  Xewington, 
and  took  tea  with  Mrs.  Barbauld.  I  found  that  Dr. 
Aikin  had  been  very  seriously  ill.  Mrs.  Barbauld 
herself  retains  her  health  and  faculties,  and  is  an  in- 
teresting instance  of  a  respected  and  happy  old  age.  I 
played  chess  with  her,  and  then  went  to  Becher's  late." 
In  1818  he  writes,  "Mrs.  Barbauld  speaks  contempt- 
uously of  Lord  Byron's  new  poem  ('  Beppo '),  as  being 
without  poetry  and  in  horrible  versification.  It  may 
be  so."  Many  of  Mrs.  Barbauld's  sentiments  regarding 
her  contemporaries  are  worthy  of  note.      She  said  in 


302  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  XII. 

one  letter,  of  Lord  Byron,  that  lie  "  filled  a  leaf  in  the 
book  of  fame,  but  it  is  a  very  blotted  leaf."  Kogers 
says  that  she  told  him  "  she  thought  Byron  wrote  best 
when  he  wrote  about  the  sea  or  swimming."  Curiously 
enough,  William  Howitt  charges  Byron  with  plagiariz- 
ing from  her  this  figure,  which  is  really  Shakespeare's, — 

"The  earth  hath  bubbles  as  the  water  hath, 
And  this  is  of  them." 

In  Mrs.  Barbauld's  poem,  "  Washing-Day,"  the  same 
idea  had  been  conceived  by  her,  — 

"  Earth,  air,  and  sky,  and  ocean  hath  its  bubbles, 
And  verse  is  one  of  them,  — this  most  of  all." 

In  a  letter  of  Miss  Edgeworth's  to  Mrs.  Edgeworth, 
written  October,  1818,  she  says,  "  We  went  to  see  Mrs. 
Barbauld  at  Stoke  Newington.  We  waited  some  time 
before  she  appeared,  and  I  had  leisure  to  recollect 
everything  that  could  make  me  melancholy,  —  the  very 
sofa  where  you  and  my  father  sat.  I  was  quite  undone 
before  she  came  in,  but  forced  to  get  through  it.  She 
was  gratified  by  our  visit,  and  very  kind  and  agreeable." 
In  the  following  letter  to  Mrs.  Beecroft,  Mrs.  Barbauld 
is  full  of  enthusiasm  for  America  and  its  future ;  and 
after  speaking  of  the  ever  new  and  interesting  phases 
presented  by  a  study  of  history  to  the  thinker  of 
enlarged  and  liberal  views,  she  says,  "  What  is  the  whole 
field  of  ancient  history,  which  knew  no  sea  but  the 
Mediterranean,  to  the  vast  continent  of  America,  with 
its  fresh  and  opening  glories  ? " 


1818.]  PROSPECTS   OF  AMERICA.  303 

Stoke  Newington,  November  14,  1818. 

Our  tourists  are  mostly  now  returned.  Such  numbers 
have  resided  more  or  less  abroad,  that  I  cannot  help  thinking 
the  intercourse  must  influence  in  some  degree  the  national 
manners,  which  I  find  by  Madame  de  Stael  are  not  yet  to 
the  taste  of  our  neighbors.  They  allow  us  to  be  respectable, 
but  they  plainly  intimate  they  do  not  think  us  amiable. 
When  I  read  such  censures,  I  cannot  help  saying  in  my 
mind  to  the  author  :  I  wish  you  knew  such  a  one,  and 
such  a  one,  of  my  acquaintance ;  I  am  sure  you  could  not 
but  love  them.  Yet,  after  all,  I  fear  we  must  acknowledge 
something  about  us  dry,  cold,  and  reserved ;  more  afraid  of 
censure  than  gratified  by  notice ;  very  capable  of  steadiness 
in  important  pursuits,  but  not  happy  in  filling  up  the  pauses 
and  intervals  of  life  with  ingenious  trifles,  and  spontaneous, 
social  hilarity 

It  seems  to  me  that  there  is  more  room  for  authors  in  his- 
tory than  in  any  other  department.  It  is  continually  grow- 
ing. It  is  like  a  tree,  the  dead  leaves  and  branches  of  which 
are  continually  pruned  and  cleared  away,  and  fresh  green 
shoots  arising.  How  much  less  interesting  since  the  French 
Revolution  are  the  glories  and  conquests  of  Louis  XIV.  ! 
What  is  the  whole  field  of  ancient  history,  which  knew  no 
sea  but  the  Mediterranean,  to  the  vast  continent  of  America, 
with  its  fresh  and  opening  glories  !  Will  they  be  .wise  by 
our  experience,  peaceable,  moderate,  virtuous  1  Xo  :  they 
will  be  learned  by  our  learning,  but  not  wise  by  our  experi- 
ence. Each  country,  as  each  man,  must  buy  his  own  expe- 
rience. 


304  LIFE   OF   MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  XII. 

To  Mrs.  Taylor. 

Stoke  Newington,  December  8,  1818. 
I  will  write,  now  my  dear  friend  is  better,  is  recovering, 
is,  I  hope,  in  a  fair  way  to  be  soon  quite  well,  and  all  herself 
again ;  and  she  will  accept,  and  so  will  Mr.  T.  and  Mrs.  R, 
my  warmest  congratulations.  To  tell  you  how  anxious  we 
have  been,  would,  I  trust,  be  superfluous,  or  how  much  joy 
we  have  felt  in  being  relieved  from  that  anxiety.  It- is  pleas- 
ant to  have  some  one  to  share  pleasure  with ;  and  though  I 
could  have  had  that  satisfaction  in  a  degree  with  every  one 
who  knows  you,  it  is  more  particularly  agreeable  to  me  at 
this  time  to  have  your  dear  Sarah  to  sympathize  with  and 
talk  to  about  you.  Among  other  things,  we  say  that  you 
must  not  let  mind  wear  out  body,  which  I  suspect  you  are  a 
little  inclined  to  do.  Mind  is  often  very  hard  upon  his 
humble  yokefellow,  sometimes  speaking  contemptuously  of 
her,  as  being  of  a  low,  mean  family,  in  comparison  with 
himself;  often  abridging  her  food  or  natural  rest  for  his 
whims.  Many  a  headache  has  he  given  her,  when,  but 
for  him,  she  would  be  quietly  resting  in  her  bed.  Some- 
times he  fancies  that  she  hangs  as  a  dead  weight  upon 
him,  and  impedes  all  his  motions ;  yet  it  is  well  known 
that,  though  he  gives  himself  such  airs  of  superiority,  he  can 
in  fact  do  nothing  without  her;  and  since,  however  they 
came  together,  they  are  united  for  better  for  worse,  it  is  for 
his  interest  as  well  as  hers  that  she  should  be  nursed  and 
cherished  and  taken  care  of.  —  And  so  ends  my  sermon. 

In   the   year  1819,  Airs.   Barbauld  lost  one  of  her 


1819.]  CORRESPONDENCE.  305 

earliest  and  most  intimate  friends,  Mrs.  Kenrick,  to 
whom  several  of  her  letters  in  these  pages  were  addressed. 
Miss  Aikin,  in  writing  about  this  time,  says,  "  We  are 
all  quite  well  here ;  my  aunt  Barbauld  hears  as  quick 
as  ever."  And  in  writing  Mrs.  Taylor  of  Norwich  in 
the  same  year,  1819,  she  says,  "My  aunt  Barbauld, 
though  complaining  a  little  occasionally,  has  continued 
to  make  many  visits,  and  enjoy,  I  think,  a  great  deal  of 
pleasure  this  summer."  In  the  following  letter  to  Mrs. 
Fletcher  of  Edinburgh,  her  old  friend,  Mrs.  Barbauld 
writes  of  making  visits,  and  the  pleasure  of  travelling 
in  a  post-chaise  with  agreeable  companions,  when  "  you 
may  sulk  in  a  corner  if  you  choose ;  nay,  you  may  sleep 
without  offence," "and  "you  talk,  and  yet  you  are  not 
bound  to  talk." 

Stoke  Newington,  September,  1819. 
How  good  you  are  to  me,  my  dear  Mrs.  F.,  and  how  kind 
and-  how  cheering  are  your  expressions  of  regard !  I  will 
not  tell  you  how  much  you  have  made  me  love  you  by  your 
late  visit.  Your  kindness,  your  frankness,  the  interest  you 
have  made  me  take  in  your  family,  the  thought  how  much 
your  own  feelings  have  been  tried,  have  made  me  look  on 
you  with  mingled  reverence  and  affection.  I  hope  the  Misses 
F.'s  visit  to  London  will  have  made  sufficiently  favorable 
impressions  to  induce  them  sometimes  to  repeat  it ;  and  yet 
I  faucy  I  hear  them  saying  that,  after  all,  this  great  over- 
grown mass  of  buildings,  these  pushing,  bustling,  crowded 
streets,    this   hubbub   and   hum   of  -the    busy   hive,    that 


306  LIFE  OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  XII. 

poverty  and  crime  which  form  the  background  of  the  gay- 
picture,  are  not  so  attractive  as  their  own  Edinburgh,  with 
its  picturesque  site,  —  the  singularity  of  the  Old,  the  splen- 
dor of  the  New  town,  —  with  the  remembrances  that  attach 
(softened  by  being  only  remembrances)  to  the  decayed  palace 
and  the  closed  doors  of  the  halls  of  legislation,  with  taste 
and  the  spirit  of  inquiry  emanating  from  the  seat  of  literature 
and  spreading  its  influence  over  society,  and  with  all  the 
romantic  stories  attached  to  glen  and  brook  and  heath,  im- 
pressed with  the  still  recent  footsteps  of  a  wild  and  hardy 
race,  but  lately  brought  within  the  pale  of  civilized  society, — 
stories  the  treasure-house  of  the  poet  and  the  novelist.  And 
if  they  do  make  this  preference,  I  have  not  much  to  say 
against  it,  provided  you  keep  your  Edinburgh  as  it  is,  and  do 
not  imitate  us  too  much. 

Our  weather  is  still  pleasant.  I  am  going  to  spend  two  or 
three  days  at ,  Mr.  and  Miss  B.  and  myself  in  a  post- 
chaise.  An  agreeable  companion  in  a  post-chaise  —  though  I 
would  not  advertise  for  one  —  is  certainly  an  agreeable  thing. 
You  talk,  and  yet  you  are  not  bound  to  talk ;  and  if  the 
conversation  drops,  you  may  pick  it  up  again  at  every  brook 
or  village,  or  seat  you  pass,  —  "  What 's  o'clock  1 "  and 
"  How 's  the  wind  ] "  "  "Whose  chariot 's  that  we  left  be- 
hind 1 "  You  may  sulk  in  a  corner  if  you  will ;  nay,  you 
may  sleep  without  offence. 

In  the  following  letter  to  Mrs.  Estlin,  congratulating 
her  on  the  happy  marriage  of  her  son,  she  feelingly 
alludes  to  the  loss  of  Mrs.  Kenrick ;  and  though  in- 


1819.]  CORRESPONDENCE.  307 

firmities  had  made  life  less  desirable  to  her,  yet  she  is 
sensible  of  the  blow  to  herself  in  the  departure  of  her 
old  and  valued  friend. 

My  dear  Mrs.  Estlin, —  I  was  just  going  to  write  to 
you  when  I  received  your  kind  letter,  for  I  had  heard  of 
your  son's  marriage,  and  wished  to  congratulate  you  on  the 
event ;  but  I  do  it  with  much  more  pleasure  now  that  I 
learn  from  your  letter  the  full  satisfaction  and  pleasure  that 
you  feel  in  the  match.  You  are  fortunate,  my  dear  friend, 
in  having  so  excellent  and  well  principled  a  son ;  fortunate 
in  having  him  married  agreeably  to  your  wishes ;  and  very 
fortunate  in  having  him  and  your  other  children  within  a 
walk  of  your  door  or  within  it. 

We  are  all  pretty  much  as  usual ;  for  myself,  indeed,  I  am 
sensible  I  grow  weaker  both  in  mind  and  body,  and  I  am 
sensible  it  is  natural  and  right  it  should  be  so.  How  many 
friends  have  I  survived!  A  very  dear  one  Mrs.  Kenrick 
was.  I  had  no  prospect,  indeed,  of  ever  seeing  her  again, 
nor,  with  the  privations  she  suffered,  (of  which  her  almost 
total  deafness  was  the  severest)  could  I  wish  her  to  live ; 
yet  there  is  a  melancholy  in  the  thought,  Gone  forever  !  which 
no  other  separation  can  inspire.  But  why  do  I  write  in  this 
strain  to  you,  when  I  write  on  purpose  to  congratulate  you 
on  a  wedding]  How  soon  children  become,  from  play- 
things, subjects  of  education ;  then  objects  of  anxiety  for 
their  settling  in  the  world  ;  and  then,  very  often,  are  trans- 
planted wide  away  from  their  parents'  home,  —  perhaps  to 
America.  The  more  particularly  fortunate  you  :  so  I  began, 
and  so  I  conclude. 


308  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BAEBAULD.  [Chap.  XII. 

In  Mr.  Kobinson's  diary  the  entry  for  January  21, 
1821,  is  as  follows  :  —  "  I  called  on  the  Colliers,  and  then 
went  to  Mrs.  Barbauld's.  She  was  in  good  spirits,  but 
she  is  now  the  confirmed  old  lady.  Independently  of 
her  fine  understanding  and  literary  reputation,  she  would 
be  interesting.  Her  white  locks,  fair  and  unwrinkled 
skin,  brilliant  starched  linen,  and  rich  silk  gown,  make 
her  a  fit  subject  for  a  painter.  Her  conversation  is 
lively,  her  remarks  judicious  and  always  pertinent." 

In  July  of  the  same  year  he  writes,  "  I  went  to  Mrs. 
Barbauld's,  where  I  was  soon  joined  by  Charles  and 
Mary  Lamb.  This  was  a  meeting  I  had  brought  about 
to  gratify  mutual  curiosity.  The  Lambs  are  pleased 
with  Mrs.  Barbauld,  and  therefore  it  is  highly  probable 
that  they  have  pleased  her.  Mrs.  C.  Aikin  was  there, 
and  Miss  Lawrence.  Lamb  was  chatty,  and  suited  his 
conversation  to  his  company,  except  that,  speaking  of 
Gilbert  Wakefield,  he  said  he  had  a  peevish  face.  When 
he  was  told  Mrs.  Aikin  was  Gilbert  Wakefield's  daughter, 
he  was  vexed,  but  got  out  of  the  scrape  tolerably  well. 
I  walked  with  the  Lambs  by  the  turnpike,  and  then 
came  home." 

Stoke  Newtngton,  October,  1822. 

My  dear  Mrs.   Carr,  —  I   think  I  never  was   so   long 

without  seeing  you  since  we  were  acquainted.     May  I  hope 

that  it  will  not  he  much  longer  ?     I  want  to  know  of  the 

health  and  welfare  of  every  individual  of  you My 


1822.]  VISIT   OF  DR.    CHANNTSG.  309 

love  to  your  young  ladies ;  tell  them  I  am  sorry  they  must 
wait  to  be  married  till  Parliament  meets  again;  but  every- 
body says  it  is  the  most  difficult  thing  in  the  world.     Dr. 

,  indeed,  has  accomplished  it,  in  spite  of  obstacles ;  but 

he  is  a  man  of  energy  and  perseverance.  Englishmen  are 
said  to  love  their  laws ;  that  is  the  reason,  I  suppose,  they 
give  us  so  many  of  them,  and  in  different  editions. 

Dr.  Charming,  in  writing  to  Mrs.  Kinder  of  London, 
in  1823,  after  his  return  to  America,  says  of  Mrs.  Bar- 
bauld,  whom  he  had  called  on  with  Mrs.  Kinder  in 
1822,  "  I  recollect  with  much  pleasure  the  visit  which 
we  paid  with  you  to  Mrs.  Barbauld.  It  is  rare  to  meet 
with  such  sensibility,  mildness,  and,  I  may  say,  sweet- 
ness, united  with  the  venerableness  of  old  age;  and 
I  was  particularly  gratified  with  seeing,  in  a  woman  so 
justly  distinguished,  such  entire  absence  of  the  con- 
sciousness of  authorship.  I  trust  that  she  is  still  living, 
for  her  life  seemed  to  me  a  blessing,  both  to  herself 
and  her  friends;  and  if  so,  I  beg  you  to  assure  her  of 
our  affectionate  and  very  respectful  remembrances." 

In  December  of  1822,  her  brother,  Dr.  John  Aikin,  the 
beloved  companion  of  her  early  years,  and  the  object 
of  her  deepest  affection  through  a  long  life,  died,  after 
a  long  and  tedious  illness,  which  somewhat  reconciled 
his  family  and  friends  to  his  loss. 

In  the  following  letter  Mrs.  Barbauld  asks,  "  "What 
does  life  offer  at  past  eighty    (at  which  venerable  age 


310  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  XII. 

I  arrived  one  day  last  June)  ?  And  I  believe  you  will 
allow  that  there  is  not  much  of  new,  of  animating,  of 
inviting,  to  be  met  with  after  that  age."  With  all  the 
disabilities  and  the  failing  strength  of  the  long  years 
which  bring  in  their  train  so  many  infirmities  to  all,  she 
was  very  cheerful ;  and  her  last  years  were  passed  amidst 
an  affectionate  family  circle,  while  she  was  the  beloved 
object  of  solicitude  to  many  friends.  Her  brother's 
family  and  his  son  Charles  — her  adopted  son,  "  the  little 
Charles "  for  whom  she  wrote  the  "  Early  Lessons," 
and  whose  early  years  called  forth  so  much  affection 
and  thought  from  her  —  united  in  devoted  care  and  at- 
tention to  her.  Friends  and  kindness  she  did  not  lack, 
though  a  long  life  naturally  left  her  in  her  declining 
years  somewhat  lonely,  as  most  of  her  earlier  companions 
were  taken  from  her  by  death.  In  1823  she  lost  another 
very  dear  friend,  Mrs.  John  Taylor  of  Norwich.  This 
lady  was  endeared  to  her  by  long  intimacy  and  great 
excellence  of  character.  She  was  never  very  near  her 
for  any  length  of  time,  but  visits  exchanged,  and  a 
correspondence,  kept  up  a  very  close  'friendship.  In  a 
letter  to  one  of  Mrs.  Taylor's  daughters,  Mrs.  Barbauld 
spoke  truly  and  affectionately  of  her  character  and 
amiable  traits.  She  says,  "  Eeceive  the  assurance  of 
my  most  affectionate  sympathy  in  those  feelings  with 
which  you  must  be  now  contemplating  the  loss  of  that 
dear  woman,  so  long  the  object  of   your  respect  and 


1823.]  CORRESPONDENCE.  311 

affection ;  nor,  indeed,  yours  only,  but  of  all  who  knew 
her.  A  prominent  part  of  those  feelings,  however, 
must  be,  that  the  dear  object  of  them  is  released  from 
suffering,  has  finished  her  task  and  entered  upon  her 

reward Never  will  she  be  forgotten   by  those 

who  knew  her !  Her  strong  sense,  her  feeling,  her 
energy,  her  principle,  her  patriotic  feelings,  her  piety, 
rational  yet  ardent,  —  all  these  mark  a  character  of  no 
common  sort.  When  to  these  are  added  those  of  rela- 
tion or  friend,  the  feeling  must  be  such  as  no  course  of 
years  can  efface." 

Letter  to  . 


Stoke  Newixgton,  October  25,  1823. 
....  The  enigma  you  do  me  the  honor  to  ask  for  will 
accompany  this.  But  I  have  first  to  find  it ;  for  though  I 
have  looked  a  good  deal,  I  have  not  yet  been  able  to  lay  my 
hands  on  it.  I  beg  to  make  proviso  that  if  I  should  want 
myself  to  insert  it  in  any  publication,  I  may  be  at  liberty  to 
do  it.  Though,  truly,  that  is  not  very  likely  ;  for  well  do  I 
feel  one  faculty  after  another  withdrawin g,  and  the  shades  of 
evening  closing  fast  around  me  ;  and  be  it  so  !  What  does 
life  offer  at  past  eighty  (at  which  venerable  age  I  arrived  one 
day  last  June)  1  And  I  believe  you  will  allow  that  there  is 
not  much  of  new,  of  animating,  of  inviting,  to  be  met  with 
after  that  age.  For  my  own  part,  I  only  find  that  many 
things  I  knew,  I  have  forgotten ;  many  things  I  thought  I 
knew,  I  find  I  know  nothing  about ;  some  things  I  know,  I 


312  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BAEBAULD.  [Chap.  XII. 

have  found  not  worth  knowing ;  and  some  things  I  would 
give  — 0  what  would  one  not  give? — to  know  are  beyond  the 
reach  of  human  ken.  Well,  I  believe  this  is  what  may  be 
called  prosing,  and  you  can  make  much  better  use  of  your 
time  than  to  read  it. 

I  saw  yesterday  two  boys,  modern  Greeks,  in  the  costume 
of  their  country,  introduced  by  Mr.  Bowring,  who  has  the 
charge  of  them,  —  "  Du  Grec, — ah,  ma  sosur,  du  Grec;  Us 
2iarlent  du  Grec!"  I  have  been  reading  one  or  two  Ameri- 
can novels  lately.  They  are  very  well,  but  I  do  not  wish 
them  to  write  novels  yet.  Let  them  explore  and  describe 
their  new  country ;  let  them  record  the  actions  of  their 
Washington,  the  purest  character,  perhaps,  that  history  has 
to  boast  of;  let  them  enjoy  their  free,  their  unexpensive, 
government,  number  their  rising  towns,  and  boast  that  Perse- 
cution does  not  set  her  bloody  foot  in  any  corner  of  their 
extensive  territories.  Then  let  them  kindle  into  poetry ;  but 
not  yet  —  not  till  the  more  delicate  shades  and  nicer  deline- 
ations of  life  are  familiar  to  them  —  let  them  descend  to 
novels.  But,  tempted  by  writing  to  you,  I  am  running  on 
till  my  eyes  are  tired,  and  perhaps  you  too.     Compliments 

to  Mrs.  ,  and  all   your  family.     If  I  find  the  riddle,"  I 

will  send  it  to  you  j  meantime  I  am,  with  the  truest  esteem 

and  friendship, 

Your  affectionate  friend. 

Mrs.  Barbauld  was  well  aware  of  the  decline  of 
strength  and  the  fast  approaching  close  to  her  life. 
She  plainly  saw  her  own  increased  feebleness  and  the 


1824.]  OLD   AGE.  313 

want  of  energy  which  overcame  her.  "Without  repin- 
ing or  complaints  she  cheerfully  awaited  the  day  of 
release.  In  the  following  letter  to  Mrs.  Estlin,  she 
speaks  of  having  "  arrived  at  a  period  when  life  has 
no  more  to  give,  and  every  year  takes  away  from  the 
powers  both  of  mind  and  body." 

Stoke  Newington,  January,  1824. 
My  dear  Mrs.  Estlin,  —  I  will  not  say  I  was  not  disap- 
pointed in  being  obliged  to  give  up  the  hope  of  seeing  you 
this  year ;  but  you  know  best  the  time  that  suits  you,  and  I 
dare  say  have  done  what  is  right  and  proper.  \Yith  regard 
to  myself,  I  do  not  reckon  much  upon  any  enjoyment  that 
has  months  between  it  and  me.  I  am  arrived  at  a  period 
when  life  has  no  more  to  give,  and  every  year  takes  away 
from  the  powers  both  of  body  and  mind ;  when  the  great 
tendency  is  to  inaction  and  rest,  and  when  all  subjects  of 
thankfulness  or  congratulation  must  be,  not  how  much  you 
enjoy,  but  bow  little  you  suffer.  Then  the  powers  of  man 
strive  —  how  vainly  !  —  to  penetrate  the  veil,  to  pierce  the 
thick  darkness  that  covers  the  future  ;  life  seems  of  no  value 
but  for  what  lies  beyond  it,  and  even  our  views  of  the  fu- 
ture are  perhaps  cheerful  or  gloomy  according  to  the  weather 

or  our  nerves. 

Stoke  Newi>-gton,  February,  1824. 

My  dear  Mrs.  Beecroft,  —  The  state  of  my  eyes  —  which 

have  been  very  weak  of  late,  and  are  giving  me  a  hint  that 

they  have  served  me  nearly  long  enough  —  has  hindered  me 

for  some  time  from  answering  your  kind  letter.     Long  may 

14 


314  LIFE   OF   MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  XII. 

you  enjoy  that  activity  and  now  of  spirits  which  makes  life 
indeed  a  blessing ;  and  which  by  conversation,  by  the  very 
look  of  a  happy  and  social  spirit,  communicates  pleasure  to 
all  within  its  influence.  But,  you  will  say,  a  social  spirit 
often  leads  one  to  mourn.  It  is  very  true  ;  we  are  just  now 
sympathizing  with  ....  But  what  is  all  this  to  you  1  will 
you  say ;  these  are  not  your  acquaintance  or  connections. 
Why,  that  is  very  true  ;  but  I  have  so  long  been  accustomed 
to  see  you  take  part  with  ready  and  affectionate  sympathy  in 
the  habits,  connections,  and  trains  of  ideas  of  your  friends, 
that  I  am  always  apt  to  suppose  that  where  I  am  intimate 
you  cannot  be  a  stranger,  and  that  where  I  am  interested 
you  cannot  be  indifferent.  I  heard  a  lady  say  once,  that  she 
should  not  at  all  care  or  interest  herself  about  anything 
which  might  happen  to  her  friends  or  relations  when  she  was 
out  of  the  world,  —  I  mean,  if  she  were  to  know  it  now. 
How  unnatural !  I  need  not  tell  you,  I  think,  that  she  was 
not  a  parent.  Xor  do  I  like  those  metaphysical  moralists, 
who,  by  a  refinement  of  subtle  investigation,  assert  that 
our  anxiety  for  our  friends  proceeds  only  from  a  wish 
to  avoid,  for  ourselves,  the  pain  we  are  conscious  we  should 
feel  whenever  they  suffer.  Miserable  evasions  of  Nature's 
best  feelings ! 

In  Mr.  Eobinson's  diary  he  writes  of  November  4, 
1824,  "Walked  to  ISTewington  ;  Mrs.  Barbauld  was  go- 
ing out,  but  she  stayed  a  short  time  with  me.  The  old 
lady  is  much  shrunk  in  appearance  and  is  declining 


1824]  OLD   AGE.  315 

in  strength.  She  is  but  the  shade  of  her  former  self, 
but  a  venerable  shade.  She  is  eighty-one  years  old, 
but  she  retains  her  cheerfulness,  and  seems  not  afraid 
of  death.  She  has  a  serene  hope  and  quiet  faith, — 
delightful  qualities  at  all  times,  and  in  old  age  pecu- 
liarly enviable."  In  Mr.  Robinson's  reminiscences  of 
past  years  there  is  one  written  in  a  letter  to  his  brother 
in  1852,  in  which  he  speaks  of  "  the  spirit  of  Mrs. 
Barbauld's  famous  essay,"  that  on  "  Inconsistency.'5 
And  in  another  letter,  a  few  days  later,  to  the  same 
person,  he  says  of  an  incident,  "  This  reminds  me  of 
my  leave-taking  of  Mrs.  Barbauld  on  my  going  to 
France,  anno  182-  She  was  suffering  from  a  severe 
cold  with  a  cough.  '  I  hope  I  shall  find  you  better  on 
my  return.'  'Why  so  ?'  'That  seems  a  foolish  question; 
health  is  better  than  sickness.'  '  Xot  always  ;  I  do  not 
wish  to  be  better.  But  don't  mistake  me,  I  am  not  at 
all  impatient,  but  quite  ready.'  She  died  a  few  weeks 
after  my  leave-taking.  It  was  her  brother  who  wrote 
the  couplet  she  might  have  written,  and  which  I  make 
no  apology  for  repeating  as  a  pious  wish :  — 

1  From  the  banquet  of  Life  rise  a  satisfied  guest, 
Thank  the  Lord  of  the  Feast,  and  in  hope  go  to  rest.'  " 

Stoke  Xewtxgtox,  November  23,  1S2L 
It  is  so  long  since  I  heard  of  you  or  yours,  that  I  begin  to 
be  impatient,  and  moreover  I  am  disappointed  j  for  you  cer- 


316  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  XII. 

tainly  did  flatter  me  some  time  ago  with  the  idea  that  I 
should  see  you  here  before  this  summer  was  ended.  And 
now,  while  I  had  hardly  finished  my  sentence,  your  kind 
letter  arrives.  Let  me  beg  of  you  to  give  up  your  reasons 
against  paying  me  a  visit  before  this  year  is  concluded. 
Think  of  my  age,  and  come  to  me  while  my  eyes  serve  me 
to  look  on  your  countenance,  and  my  ears  can  catch  your 
words,  and  my  heart  can  be  exhilarated  by  the  conversation 
of  a  friend. 

I  think  nothing  flourishes  more  in  Newington  than 
schools.  We  have  several  set  up  lately,  besides  charity- 
schools,  of  which  so  many  have  been  established  that  I 
should  imagine  *there  is  not  an  individual  among  the  lower 
order  who  cannot  get  his  son  instructed,  if  he  really  desires  it. 
We  have  some  little  Greek  boys  here,  who,  in  their  national 
costume,  are  great  objects  of  curiosity.  They  are  protected 
by  Mr.  Bowring.  By  the  way,  are  you  not  sorry  Lord 
Byron  is  dead,  just  when  he  was  going  to  be  a  hero  1  He 
has  filled  a  leaf  in  the  book  of  fame,  but  it  is  a  very  blotted 
leaf. 

It  is  amazing  how  building  increases  everywhere  near 
London,  though,  as  I  said,  my  neighbors  decrease.  This  is 
the  necessary  lot  of  age.  One  of  our  ministers  prays  that 
when  we  come  to  die  we  may  have  nothing  to  do  but  die. 
In  one  sense  the  petition  is  rational ;  but  if  it  means  noth- 
ing to  do  for  ourselves,  nothing  to  do  for  others,  nothing 
to  do  in  any  of  the  useful  stations  of  life,  —  the  languor  and 
privations,  if  not  the  sufferings,  of  age,  more  than  balancing 


1824.]  OLD   AGE.  317 

its  few  enjoyments,  —  then,  truly,  I  do  not  think  the  blessing 
is  much  to  be  prayed  for.  I  am  rather  getting  into  a  mel- 
ancholy vein,  and  I  ought  not,  for  I  have  much  to  be  thank- 
ful for,  and  shall  have  more  when  your  next  letter  comes  to 
tell  me,  as  I  hope  it  will,  such  a  day,  such  an  hour,  I  have 
taken  my  place  for  London,  thence  to  proceed  to  Xewington, 
where  you  will  be  sincerely  welcomed  by,  dear  Mrs.  Estlin, 
your  affectionate  friend. 

Mrs.  Barbauld  suffered  from  an  asthmatic  complaint 
for  some  time  before  her  death,  and  it  greatly  limited 
her  activity,  though  her  excellent  constitution  for  a 
long  time  resisted  the  disease.  But  finally  she  died 
rather  suddenly,  after  a  few  days  of  severe  illness.  She 
had  consented,  in  view  of  her  weak  state  of  health,  to 
become  an  inmate  of  her  adopted  son  Charles's  family, 
though  it  was  hard  for  her  to  leave  her  own  old  home, 
endeared  to  her  by  many  associations,  for  any  other. 
She  paid  a  visit  to  her  sister-in-law,  Mrs.  John  Aikin, 
previous  to  leaving  Xewington  for  her  nephew's  house 
in  London ;  and  while  with  her  the  illness  suddenly 
manifested  itself  which  terminated  her  life.  She  calmly 
and  quietly  expired,  March  9,  1825,  in  the  eighty-second 
year  of  her  age. 

Miss  Aikin  says  very  well  and  truly  of  her  aunt, 
"  To  claim  for  this  distinguished  woman  the  praise  of 
purity  and  elevation  of  mind  may  well  appear  superflu- 
ous.    Her  education  and  connections,  the  course  of  her 


318  LIFE   OF   MRS.    BARBAULD.  [Chap.  XII. 

life,  the  whole  tenor  of  her  writings,  bear  abundant 
testimony  to  this  part  of  her  character.  It  is  a  higher, 
or  at  least  a  rarer,  commendation,  to  add,  that  no  one 
ever  better  loved  '  a  sister's  praise/  even  that  of  snch 
sisters  as  might  have  been  peculiarly  regarded  in  the 
light  of  rivals.  She  was  acquainted  with  almost  all  the 
principal  female  writers  of  the  time;  and  there  was 
not  one  of  the  number  whom  she  failed  frequently  to 
mention  in  terms  of  admiration,  esteem,  or  affection, 
whether  in  conversation,  in  letters  to  her  friends,  or  in 
print.  To  humbler  aspirants  in  the  career  of  letters, 
who  applied  to  her  for  advice  or  assistance,  she  was 
invariably  courteous,  and  in  many  instances  essentially 
serviceable.  The  sight  of  youth  and  beauty  was  pecu- 
liarly gratifying  to  her  fancy  and  her  feelings ;  and 
children  and  young  persons,  especially  females,  were 
accordingly  large  sharers  in  her  benevolence.  She  loved 
their  society,  and  would  often  invite  them  to  pass 
weeks  or  months  in  her  house,  when  she  spared  no 
pains  to  amuse  and  instruct  them  j  and  she  seldom 
failed,  after  they  had  quitted  her,  to  recall  herself  from 
time  to  time  to  their  recollection,  by  affectionate  and 
playful  letters  or  welcome  presents.  She  passed 
through  a  long  life  without  having  dropped,  it  is  be- 
lieved, a  single  friendship,  and  without  having  drawn 
upon  herself  a  single  enmity  which  could  properly  be 
called  personal."     This  is  just  and  not  partial  praise, 


1825.]  DEATH.  319 

dictated  by  the  writer's  connection  with  Mrs.  Barbauld. 
It  appears  to  be  a  plain  statement  of  facts,  and  amply 
borne  out  by  her  own  writings,  her  letters,  and  the 
testimony  of  her  other  contemporaries. 

The  praise  of  one  "sister"  and  friend  is  worthy 
attention  here.  Miss  Edgeworth,  in  a  letter  written 
March  15,  1825,  says,  "You  have  probably  seen  in  the 
papers  the  death  of  our  admirable  friend,  Mrs.  Barbauld. 
I  have  copied  for  you  her  last  letter  to  me,  and  some 
beautiful  lines  written  in  her  eightieth  year.  There  is 
a  melancholy  elegance  and  force  of  thought  in  both. 
Elegance  and  strength  —  qualities  rarely  uniting  with- 
out injury  to  each  other  —  combined  most  perfectly  in 
her  style,  and  this  rare  combination,  added  to  their 
classical  purity,  forms,  perhaps,  the  distinguishing  char- 
acteristics of  her  writings.  England  has  lost  a  great 
writer,  and  we  a  most  sincere  friend."  In  the  year 
1840,  Mrs.  Barbauld's  adopted  son  and  nephew,  Charles 
Eochemont  Aikin,  placed  a  tablet  in  the  Newington 
Green  Chapel  This  tablet  is  of  white  marble,  of  a 
simple  form,  laid  on  a  black  ground ;  and  the  monu- 
ment, is  placed  on  the  wall  opposite  another,  which  was 
erected  to  the  memory  of  Samuel  Eogers,  the  poet,  who 
for  many  years  was  a  trustee  of  the  Chapel.  A  tablet 
to  Dr.  Price's  memory  also  has  a  place  in  the  edifice. 
The  inscription  which  I  copy  is  from  the  pen  of  Mrs. 
Barbauld's  eldest  nephew,  Arthur  Aikin,  Esq.,  Secretary 


320  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  XII. 

to  the  Society  of  Arts,  Adelphi,  for  many  years.     It 

must  be  admired  for  its  simplicity,  its  truth,  and  the 

point  and  elegance  of  the  language.     The  inscription  is 

as  follows  :  — 

In  Memory  of 

ANNA  L^ETITIA   BARBAULD, 

Daughter  of  John  Aikin,  D.  D. 

and  Wife  of  the  Revd.  Rochemont  Barbauld, 

formerly  the  respected  Minister  of  this  Congregation. 

She  was  born  at  Kibworth  in  Leicestershire,  20th  of  June,  1743, 

AND  DEED   AT   STOKE   NEWINGTON,    9th   MARCH,   1825. 

Endowed  by  the  Giver  of  all  Good 

with  Wit,  Genius,  poetic  Talent,  and  a  vigorous  Understanding, 

She  employed  those  high  Gifts 

in  promoting  the  Cause  of  Humanity,  Peace,  and  Justice, 

of  civil  and  religious  liberty, 

of  pure,  ardent,  and  affectionate  devotion. 

Let  the  Young,  nurtured  ry  her  Writings,  in  the  pure  Spirit 

of  Christian  Morality, 

let  those  of  mature  Years  capable  of  appreciating 

the  Acuteness,  the  brilliant  Fancy,  and  sound  Reasoning 

of  her  literary  Compositions, 

let  the  surviving  Few  who  shared 

her  delightful  and  instructive  conversation, 

bear  Witness  that  this  Monument  records 

no  exaggerated  praise. 

In  conversation  with  Mr.  James  Martineau  recently, 
he  spoke  to  the  writer  very  affectionately  of  Mrs.  Bar- 
bauld and  her  charm  of  manner,  her  kindly  nature,  and 
her  interest  in  the  young.  This  eminent  man  received 
what  may  be  termed  an  inherited  friendship  from  Mrs. 


1825.]  A  GROUP   OF   HER  FRIENDS.  321 

Barbauld,  who,  to  the  last,  was  peculiar  in  her  ability 
and  power  to  interest  herself  in  the  rising  generation, 
and  in  that  way  kept  up  her  own  freshness  of  thought 
and  vivacity.  Once  he  called  on  her  in  the  little,  old- 
fashioned  house  where  she  lived,  in  Newington,  and 
found  with  her  two  gentlemen  who  had  risen  to  take 
leave.  After  a  few  affectionate  parting  words,  they 
went,  saying,  as  they  handed  her  a  package,  "  Well,  we 
will  leave  these  with  you,  as  you  can  make  them  useful." 
When  they  had  gone,  she  turned  to  Mr.  Martineau, 
then  fresh  from  his  academic  studies,  and  asked  if  he 
knew  who  these  gentlemen  were.  Then  she  told  him 
one  was  Samuel  Bogers,  the  poet ;  the  other,  Sir  James 
Mackintosh.  The  package  she  gave  him,  saying  it 
would  interest  him,  and  her  eyes  were  too  sensitive  for  her 
to  read  much,  and  especially  Greek  characters.  On  open- 
ing it,  he  found  it  consisted  of  a  number  of  Greek  news- 
papers, sent  by  Lord  Byron  from  Greece,  and  containing 
some  description  of  the  struggle  there,  into  the  midst 
of  which  he  had  thrown  himself  with  so  much  impetu- 
osity and  zeal,  costing  him  his  life  in  the  same  year, 
1824.  One  cannot  help  thinking  with  interest  of  that 
little  group,  —  the  aged  poet,  Mrs.  Barbauld,  Mr.  Bogers, 
Sir  James  Mackintosh,  and  the  young  man,  —  now  one 
of  the  "  great,  half-recognized  philosophers  of  the  day," 
as  the  Spectator  lately  termed  him,  —  the  Bev.  James 
Martineau.     That  brilliant  thinker,  philosophical  and 

14*  u 


322  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  XII. 

finely  cultivated  writer  and  talker,  Sir  James  Mack- 
intosh, said  of  the  essay  "On  Inconsistency  in  Our 
Expectations,"  that  he  considered  it  the  finest  in  the 
language  for  the  depth  of  thought,  clearness  of  the 
reasoning,  and  perfect  finish  of  style  which  Mrs.  Bar- 
bauld  displayed  in  its  composition.  He  was  a  warm 
friend  and  sincere  admirer  of  Mrs.  Barbauld  for  many 
years. 

In  Mr.  Kobin son's  Diary  for  1825,  he  writes  :  "  This 
morning  I  read  to  the  young  folks  Mrs.  Barbauld's 
*  Legacy.'  This  delightful  book  has  in  it  some  of  the 
sweetest  things  I  ever  read.  '  The  King  in  his  Castle,' 
and  '  True  Magicians '  are  perfect  allegories  in  Mrs.  Bar- 
bauld's best  style.  Some  didactic  pieces  are  also  de- 
lightful." This  "Legacy,"  of  which  he  speaks,  was 
printed  several  months  after  Mrs.  Barbauld's  death,  and 
intended  particularly  for  the  young.  Several  of  the 
allegories  and  tales  will  be  found  among  the  "  Selec- 
tions" from  her  works  given  at  the  .close  of  the  vol- 
ume ;  "  True  Magicians  "  being  placed  first,  as  it  was 
in  the  original  volume. 

In  Mr.  Eogers's  "  Keminiscences "  he  says  of  Mrs. 
Barbauld,  that,  "  strangely  enough,  in  spite  of  her  cor- 
rect taste,  Mrs.  Barbauld  was  quite  fascinated  by  Dar- 
win's Botanic  Garden,  when  it  first  appeared,  and 
talked  of  it  with  rapture;  for  which  I  scolded  her 
quite  heartily."     Kogers  would  not  have  thought  her 


1825.]  LITERARY   FANCIES.  323 

admiration  so  odd,  had  he  known  that  Cowper  even 
was  fascinated  by  the  "  Botanic  Garden,"  and  ad- 
dressed some  complimentary  verses  to  Dr.  Darwin, 
written  in  connection  with  Hayley,  his  friend,  and 
afterwards  his  biographer.  Wordsworth  once  said, 
"  Darwin  had  not  an  atom  of  feeling ;  he  was^  a  mere 
eye-voluptuary.  He  has  so  many  similes,  all  begin- 
ning with  'so,'  that  I  used  to  call  the  'Botanic  Garden' 
so-so  poetry."  Miss  Aikin  says  that  Mrs.  Barbauld 
criticised  "  Lalla  Eookh "  somewhat.  "  As  my  aunt 
Barbauld  says,"  she  writes,  "  't  is  my  flower-dish,  sweet 
and  gay,  and  tastefully  arranged,  but  the  flowers  do  not 
grow  there ;  they  are  picked  up  with  pains  here  and 
there."  Mrs.  Barbauld  was  extremely  simple  in  her 
taste,  and  preferred  classical  purity  and  natural  descrip- 
tion to  the  novel  and  startling.  When  Byron  pub- 
lished his  "  Bride  of  Abydos,"  she  wrote  to  Mrs.  Estlin, 
•"  I  cannot  see  any  advantage  in  calling  a  nightingale 
bulbul,  or  a  rose  gul,  except  to  disconcert  plain  English 
readers."  In  1818,  Mr.  Eobinson  says,  "  Mrs.  Barbauld 
speaks  contemptuously  of  Lord  Byron's  new  poem, 
['  Beppo ']  as  being  without  poetry,  and  in  horrible  ver- 
sification. It  may  be  so."  This  was  on  an  occasion 
when  he  dined  with  her,  and  found  a  number  of  people 
there,  and  saw  young  Mr.  Roscoe,  who  was  calling  on 
her.  The  conversation  turned  on  Byron's  new  poem, 
which  he  had  been  reading  as  he  walked,  —  a  habit  of 
Mr.  Robinson's. 


324  LIFE   OF   MRS.   BAEBAULD.  [Chap.  XII. 

Lord  Brougham,  in  one  of  his  speeches,  made  an 
eloquent  tribute  to  Mrs.  Barbauld's  memory.  In  his 
"  Discourse  on  the  Objects,  Advantages,  and  Pleasures 
of  Science,"  he  writes :  "  Children's  books  have  at  all 
times  been  made  upon  the  pernicious  plan  of  exciting 
wonder,  generally  terror,  at  whatever  risk.  The  folly 
and  misery  occasioned  by  this  error  it  would  be  difficult 
to  estimate.  The  time  may  come  when  it  will  be  felt 
and  understood.  At  present,  the  inveterate  habits  of 
parents  and  nurses  prevent  the  children  from  benefiting 
by  the  excellent  lessons  of  Mrs.  Barbauld  and  Miss 
Edgeworth." 

In  one  place  we  find  Mrs.  Barbauld's  hymns  spoken 
of  as  follows  :  —  "In  devotional  poetry  she  never  has 
been,  and  probably  never  will  be,  excelled."  And  the 
writer  then  praises  very  highly  the  "Address  to  the 
Deity,"  and  "A  Summer  Evening's  Meditation,"  as 
very  elevated  in  sentiment  and  feeling.  In  a  charming 
review  by  W.  0.  B.  Peabody  of  Miss  Aikin's  edition 
of  her  aunt's  works,  he  says  of  Mrs.  Barbauld :  "  En- 
dowed with  a  mind  masculine  in  its  grasp,  and  no  less 
fitted  to  be  the  communicant  than  the  recipient  of 
knowledge,  she  devoted,  through  an  unusually  long 
life,  every  faculty  of  her  soul  to  the  most  hallowed 
purposes.  Whether  we  look  at  her  as  a  poetess  incul- 
cating moral  lessons  in  harmonious  strains ;  as  an 
essayist,  seldom  beneath,  and  not  unfrequently  equal  to, 


1825.]  VISIT   TO   HANNAH   MORE.  325 

our  most  classical  writers  ;  as  a  theologian,  the  pow- 
erful and  consistent  supporter  of  its  tolerant  and  rea- 
sonable side  ;  or  as  a  politician  denouncing  despotism 
and  advocating  a  wise  and  philosophic  freedom,  —  we 
confess  we  know  not  in  which  character  to  admire  her 
most." 

Mrs.  Barbauld's  poems  are  characterized  by  her  easy 
versification,  —  the  smooth  and  polished  style,  which 
leads  the  reader  from  thought  to  thought  without  start- 
ling the  mind,  —  and  their  influence  is  elevating  and 
pleasing.  Her  high  tone  of  thought,  pure  and  deep  senti- 
ment, her  powers  of  description  and  imagination  of  things 
seen,  and  aspirations  towards  the  unknown,  the  beauti- 
ful, and  the  grand,  are  her  peculiar  charms  as  a  poet. 
Mrs.  Barbauld's  poetry  places  her  among  the  writers 
of  that  English  school  which  has  for  its  head  Cowper,  — 
named  as  "  the  most  popular  poet  of  his  generation " 
by  Southey,  —  the  school  of  descriptive,  didactic,  and 
picturesque  versification.  The  writers  of  this  style  of 
poetry  are  distinguished  for  their  high  tone,  religious 
feeling,  and  love  of  the  beautiful  and  true  in  nature  and 
man.  Calm  and  unexciting  in  their  style,  they  present 
no  glaring  or  startling  effects  of  the  terrible  or  tragic, 
relying  on  simple  and  natural  word-pictures  of  scenes 
and  characters  to  interest  and  attract  the  reader.  In 
the  peculiar  powers  of  mind  Mrs.  Barbauld  displayed, 
her  devotional  and  beautiful   hymns,  her  long  poems 


326  LIFE   OF  MRS.    BA.RBAULD.  [Chap.  XII. 

on  various  subjects  of  interest  which  called  them  forth, 
—  "Corsica,"  the  "Epistle"  to  William  Wilberforce, 
and  "  Eighteen  Hundred  and  Eleven,"  the  "  Address  to 
the  Deity,"  and  "  A  Summer  Evening's  Meditation,"  — 
excel ;  and  these  poems  convey  to  the  mind  an  idea  of 
her  range  of  thought.  She  loved  liberty  and  toleration 
for  all  men,  and  this  feeling  prompted  the  "  Address  to 
the  Corsicans,"  and  the  "  Epistle  "  to  Mr.  Wilberforce,  — 
the  first  being  an  animating  voice  of  encouragement  to 
a  patriotic  and  struggling  people,  the  second  a  fervent 
expression  of  hope  and  sympathy  for  the  slaves.  She 
wrote  many  bright  and  witty  verses,  which  show  that 
humor,  fancy,  and  sentiment  went  hand  in  hand,  and 
combined  to  make  a  rare  union  of  strength  and  im- 
agination in  her  writings.  There  is  a  pleasing  and 
noticeable  variety  in  Mrs.  Barbauld's  poems,  and  she 
ranges  over  a  wide  field  of  thought,  which  Dryden  tells 
us  is  well  for  a  poet :  — 

"  Happy  -who  in  his  verse  can  steer 
From  grave  to  light,  from  pleasant  to  severe." 

Though  Mrs.  Barbauld  was  gifted  with  great  facility 
of  expression,  and  wrote  very  easily,  she  was  very  par- 
ticular about  the  preparation  and  composition  of  her 
works  published ;  and  many  very  pretty  and  pleasing- 
poems  have  never  been  printed,  as  she  did  not  consider 
them  of  sufficient  interest  for  the  public,  and  prop- 
erly  finished  in  their  style.     "To   a  friend   who   had 


1825.]  CHARACTER   OF   HER   POETRY.  327 

p 

expressed  his  surprise  at  not  finding  inserted  in  her 
volume  a  poem  which  he  had  admired  in  manuscript, 
she  well  and  characteristically  replied,  '  I  had  rather  it 
should  be  asked  of  twenty  pieces  why  they  are  not  here, 
than  of  one  why  it  is.'  "  The  works,  when  first  prepared, 
after  her  reluctance  to  appear  before  the  public  had 
been  overcome,  were  issued  on  this  plan. '  Miss  Aikin 
followed  it  out  most  conscientiously,  and  I  have  omitted 
many  poems  and  prose  pieces  not  of  present  interest,  as 
being  suggested  by  passing  events,  or  addressed  to  one 
or  another  friend. 

In  Mr.  Turner's  sketch  of  Mrs.  Barbauld,  from  which  I 
have  just  quoted,  he  names  the  following  poems  as  being 
among  his  treasures,  and  given  him  by  Mrs.  Barbauld  in 
manuscript :  "  A  Fragment  of  an  Epic  Poem,  occasioned 
by  the  Loss  of  a  Game  of  Chess  to  Dr.  Priestley,  in  Con- 
sequence of  an  Unreasonable  Drowsiness  "  ;  "  Verses  on 
the  Birth  of  Dr.  Priestley's  Son  "  (Joseph  Priestley,  Esq., 
of  Tindale,  near  Dudley,  who  continued  and  published 
his  father's  Memoirs)  ;  "  Verses  written  on  the  Back  of  an 
old  Visitation  Copy,  of  the  Arms  of  Dr.  Priestley's  Family, 
with  a  Proposal  for  a  new  Escutcheon."  Also  he  men- 
tions another,  " '  An  Invocation  to  the  Muse '  for  help 
to  describe  the  various  romantic  scenes  to  which  she 
had  been  taken  while  in  Yorkshire,"  —  in  a  letter  to  Mrs. 
Priestley.  This  had  been  in  his  possession,  but  was  lost. 
In  his  list  he  included  "  The  Inventory  of  the  Furniture 


328  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BAEBAULD.  [Chap.  XII. 

of  Dr.  Priestley's  Study,"  which  Mrs.  Barbauld  did  not 
print ;  and  this  poem,  with  the  lines  on  "  The  Deserted 
Village,"  were  the  only  pieces  first  printed  by  Miss 
Aikin,  —  the  only  exceptions  to  the  rule  made  by  Mrs. 
Barbauld.  Miss  Aikin  assigns  as  her  ground  for  this 
departure  from  her  aunt's  arrangement  of  her  plans 
the  fact  that  no  reason  existed  at  the  date  of  her 
publication  for  retaining  the  jeu  d'esprit  on  Dr. 
Priestley's  furniture.  The  lines  on  "  The  Deserted 
Village,"  she  gave  "partly  for  the  sake  of  connecting 
the  name  of  their  author  as  a  contemporary  with  that  of 
a  poet  who  has  so  long  been  enrolled  among  the  classics 
of  his  country.  It  may  also  be  mentioned,  that  Gold- 
smith, whose  envy  is  well  known,  bore  involuntary 
testimony  to  the  merit  of  these  lines  by  exhibiting  no 
sentiment  but  mortification  on  hearing  them  read  in  a 
London  circle."  Dr.  Goldsmith  was  able  neither  to 
control  nor  to  conceal  his  envy,  and  the  amusing  scenes 
described  by  Boswell  will  show  this.  The  lines  were 
exceedingly  graceful  in  their  allusion  to  him,  and  should 
have  pleased  the  warm-hearted  but  eccentric  poet.  Long 
after  this  poem  was  written,  Mrs.  Barbauld  told  Mr. 
Eobinson,  "  I  never  shall  be  tired  of  reading  Goldsmith's 
'  Deserted  Village.'  "  Among  the  poems  omitted  there 
are  some  beautiful  lines.  Those  on  the  death  of  Mrs. 
Martineau,  the  ancestress  of  Mr.  James  Martineau, 
contain  a  fine  thought  about  the  death  of  the  aged :  — 


1825.]  HER  PROSE  WORKS.  329 

"  'T  is  Virtue's  triumph, 
Nature's  doom." 

And  in  a  poem  addressed  to  Miss  Bigby  she  has  com- 
memorated the  filial  devotion  of  this  young  lady,  who 
was  in  attendance  on  an  invalid  mother  at  Buxton.  To 
her  and  of  her  she  says, — 

"  Thus  some  tall  column  graceful  rears  its  head 
To  prop  some  mould'ring  towers  with  moss  o'erspread  ; 
Whose  stately  piles  and  arches  yet  display 
The  venerable  graces  of  decay." 

The  prose  works  of  Mrs.  Barbauld  are  varied  in  style 
and  character.  We  must  consider  her  as  an  essayist,  a 
biographer,  a  critic,  and  a  writer  of  charming  allegories 
and  tales.  The  "  Prose  Hymns  "  and  u  Early  Lessons  n 
also  give  her  another  title  to  the  reader's  attention,  as 
one  who  had  a  peculiar  and  happy  talent  for  adapting 
thought,  and  simplifying,  not  degrading,  ideas,  so  that 
young  children  might  early  learn  to  think.  It  is  not 
worth  while  here  to  question  how  many  books  written 
for  children  teach  them  to  use  their  reasoning  powers, 
but  certainly  there  are  very  few.  Amusement,  excite- 
ment, and  novelty  or  wonder,  perhaps  terror,  form  the 
marked  characteristics  of  a  large  part  of  this  class  of 
literature.  Mrs.  Barbauld's  books  for  children  formed 
an  era,  gave  a  new  direction  to  the  range  of  books 
intended  for  the  young,  and  formed  the  basis  of  all  our 
present  standard  works  for  children,  and  some  of  which 


330  LIFE   OF   MRS.    BARBAULD.  [Chap.  XII. 

we  owe  to  several  of  Mrs.  Barbauld's  contemporaries 
and  friends,  —  Dr.  Aikin,  Miss  Edgeworth,  Mr.  Day,  and 
others.  The  "  Prose  Hymns  "  of  Mrs.  Barbauld  I  have 
already  spoken  of  at  length,  and  need  only  add  that 
these  beautiful  hymns  are  as  unique  in  their  style  and 
execution  as  they  are  original  and  perfect  in  thought 
and  simplicity. 

As  an  essayist,  Mrs.  Barbauld  was  very  felicitous  in 
her  clear,  forcible,  and  thorough  investigation  and  com- 
prehension of  her  theme,  in  her  grasp  of  thought,  and  in 
the  calm,  judicial,  yet  graceful  and  animated,  treatment 
of  the  subject  she  had  before  her.  In  her  prose  as  well 
as  her  poetry  she  never  offered  her  work  to  the  public 
without  the  most  perfect  finish  which  it  was  possible 
to  give  it.  She  felt  that  the  most  self-commending  and 
noble  thought  could  not  dispense  with  the  added  lustre 
of  the  choice  and  elegant  language  in  which  she  care- 
fully clothed  her  sentiments  and  opinions.  As  I  have 
said,  the  essay  "  On  Inconsistency  in  Our  Expecta- 
tions "  has  an  acknowledged  and  prominent  rank,  being 
thought  by  those  whose  opinions  are  of  value  to  stand 
at  the  head  of  that  class  of  literature. 

In  Mrs.  Barbauld's  "  Life  of  Kichardson/'  she  proved 
herself  a  faithful  and  judicious  narrator  of  facts,  and 
chronicler  of  the  novel-writing  bookseller,  Kichardson. 
It  was  not  an  easy  life  to  present  to  the  world.  Dull- 
ness, one  feels,  must  have  been  its  marked  characteristic, 


1825.]  HER   CRITICAL   ESSAYS.  331 

and  yet  she  was  able  to  draw  from  the  dull  and  prosy- 
little  man's  life,  and  his  relations  with  the  small  circle 
wTho  admired  him  and  made  much  of  him,  an  exceed- 
ingly attractive  and  yet  true  picture  of  his  career.  The 
writing,  ^reading,  and  publishing  of  his  novels,  and  after- 
wards the  perusal  of  them  by  the  world  of  fashion, 
formed  the  great  events  of  his  daily  life.  Yet  from 
these  simple  materials  Mrs.  Barbauld  wrote  a  biography 
which  is  charming,  animated,  and  spirited.  The  memory 
of  Richardson  is  but  a  name  when  one  tries  to  wade 
through  his  prolix,  tedious  "  Sir  Charles  Grandison  " ; 
but  his  biography  almost  vivifies  him  for  the  present 
generation. 

In  Mrs.  Barbauld's  critical  essays  she  showTed  dis- 
crimination and  taste.  As  the  train  of  thought  was 
dictated  by  the  work  to  be  considered,  less  scope  was 
allowed  her  for  originality  or  freedom  of  design;  but 
these  articles  are  models  of  that  kind  of  writing,  and 
of  enduring  and  permanent  interest,  taken  in  connection 
with  the  works  of  which  they  serve  as  an  introduction 
and  study.  Her  political  pamphlets  —  which  gave  her 
a  high  and  deserved  reputation  for  liberality  of  thought, 
and  an  honest,  fearless  expression  of  her  views  and 
sentiments  — were  called  forth  by  arbitrary  and  narrow 
legislation ;  and  her  earnest  protest  against  injustice, 
intolerance,  and  inhumanity,  must  gain  the  respect  and 
admiration  of  this  later  age.     It  is  plainly  to  be  seen 


332  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  XII. 

that  this  fearless  protest  was  dictated  by  conscience,  for 
she  had  no  personal  gain  to  expect  by  the  success  of 
her  party,  and  exposed  herself  to  ungenerous  and  im- 
pertinent criticism  and  attacks,  in  her  noble  efforts  for 
the  unfortunate  and  oppressed. 

The  allegories  and  tales  of  Mrs.  Barbauld  present  her 
in  another  light  to  our  attention.  They  are  bright, 
fanciful,  and  imaginative;  full  of  airy  flights  of  fancy, 
and  graceful  in  their  conception,  turn  of  thought,  and 
expression.  Through  this  apparently  unstudied  and 
figurative  style  of  writing  she  conveyed  many  truths 
and  ideas  to  the  minds  of  her  readers,  and  while  they 
thought  they  read  for  pleasure  and  amusement,  great 
and  important  ideas  insensibly  influenced  and  affected 
them.  The  allegories  for  the  young  are  delightful 
specimens  6f  this  class  of  writing,  and  in  the  "  Hill  of 
Science  "  Mrs.  Barbauld  u  tried  her  strength  with  Addi- 
son,  and  sustained  no  defeat."  She  showed  in  that 
piece  her  power  of  imagination  and  perfect  ability  to 
sustain  and  complete  her  imaginary  dream  by  clothing 
it  in  the  language  of  fancy  and  giving  it  an  air  of 
natural  and  unstudied  description.  The  tales  partake 
of  this  figurative,  allegorical  style,  and  convey  always 
some  good  ideas,  some  profound  yet  simple  truths, 
adapted  to  the  age  of  those  for  whom  they  were  pre- 
pared. Miss  Aikin  very  justly  thinks  "  the  allegorical 
or    enigmatical    style "    "  peculiarly    adapted    to    her 


1825.]  HER  APPEARANCE   AND   MANNERS.  333 

genius,"  and  says  "even  her  conversation  was  often 
enlivened  with  these  graceful  sports  of  wit  and  imagi- 
nation." The  reader  will  observe  the  tendency  to  the 
allegorical  and  fanciful  in  several  of  her  letters,  and  her 
"  Dialogues  "  and  "  Eiddles  "  also  prove  her  an  adept  in 
this  species  of  writing. 

I  have  spoken  of  Mrs.  Barbauld's  mental  characteris- 
tics, her  genius,  and  her  devotion  to  learning.  Shall  I 
not  do  the  reader  injustice  by  forgetting  that  interest 
may  be  felt  in  her  personal  appearance,  her  manners, 
and  her  character  ?  Few  women  of  learning  have  left 
an  impression  on  the  memory  of  those  who  knew  them 
intimately  and  socially  more  pleasing  and  attractive 
than  Mrs.  Barbauld.  She  was  very  small  and  perfectly 
formed.  Her  figure  was  fine,  and  she  carried  herself  with 
dignity  and  elegance.  Her  hair,  which  was  abundant, 
was  in  early  life  light,  and  in  her  later  years  became  gray. 
Her  complexion  was  fair  and  brilliant,  her  features 
were  very  regular  and  finely  formed,  and  her  air  and  man- 
ner was  that  of  a  person  favored  by  perfect  health,  —  for 
which  she  was  remarkable  during  her  long  life.  There 
are  several  portraits  of  Mrs.  Barbauld,  which  are  now 
in  the  possession  of  her  great-niece,  Mrs.  Le  Breton  of 
Hampstead,  who  kindly  showed  them  to  me.  One  of 
these,  a  silhouette,  had  a  peculiar  interest,  as  it  was  the 
work  of  Mrs.  Barbauld,  when,  as  Lastitia  Aikin,  she 
charmed  and  adorned  the  Warrington  society.     In  this 


334    -  LIFE   OF   MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  XII. 

manner  she  took  portraits  of  almost  all  of  the  tutors, 
scholars,  and  her  friends  at  Warrington,  and  of  these 
many  are  still  in  possession  of  her  nieces.  This  picture 
gives  her  quite  marked  features,  and  the  classic  arrange- 
ment of  the  hair  shows  the  fine  shape  of  her  head. 
After  Mrs.  Barbauld's  death,  an  old  friend  sent  the 
family  a  miniature  taken  from  memory  by  a  young 
man  who  was  deeply  in  love  with  Miss  Aikin,  and  he 
thought,  under  the  agitating  circumstances  of  that  state 
of  mind,  being  convinced  that  his  suit  was  hopeless,  that 
the  portrait  was  quite  good,  and  did  justice  to  the  attrac- 
tions which  had  made  him  a  worshipper  at  a  distance. 
This  picture  is  colored,  and  represents  Miss  Aikin  in 
full  evening  dress,  and  her  very  profuse  light  and  wavy 
hair  is  arranged  in  an  elaborate  manner.  The  features 
are  quite  decided,  and  the  whole  character  of  the  face 
would  seem  to  show  that  it  must  have  been  a  fair  like- 
ness of  this  eminent  woman  at  that  time.  The  third 
portrait  is  quite  small,  but  very  distinct,  and  evidently 
conveys  an  excellent  idea  of  the  subject.  This  is  a 
miniature  medallion  in  bas-relief,  done  by  Mr.  Wedg- 
wood. It  is  about  an  inch  in  length,  and  an  oval,  being 
intended  to  be  set  and  wTorn  as  a  brooch.  The  treat- 
ment of  the  head  is  thoroughly  classical,  and  the  simple 
arrangement  of  the  hair  and  the  delicate  lines  of  the 
face  indicate  great  attention  and  care  in  its  execu- 
tion.    Mr.  Wedgwood  did  this  little  portrait   by  his 


1825.]  HER   PORTRAITS.  335 

own  prompting,  and  it  adds  another  to  the  long  list  of 
great  and  distinguished  men  and  women  whose  faces 
are  known  to  the  present  generation  in  this  form. 

The  silhouette  of  Mrs.  Barbauld  which  formed  the 
portrait  published  in  her  Collected  Works  prepared  by 
Miss  Aikin  was  done  by  Mrs.  Hoare  of  Hampstead. 
It  was  considered  an  excellent  portrait  by  her  brother, 
Dr.  John  Aikin,  and  her  adopted  son,  Charles  Aikin,  and 
undoubtedly,  for  those  who  knew  her  well,  the  like- 
ness was  good  ;  but,  very  naturally,  it  has  not  the  merit 
of  a  regular  portrait.  It  is  delicate  in  execution,  and 
certainly  has  wonderful  expression  for  a  silhouette.  It 
has  a  slight  stoop  of  the  shoulders,  which  the  family 
remember  as  characteristic  of  Mrs.  Barbauld  late  in  life  ; 
and  this  picture  pleased  them  so  much  that  they  used 
it  in  preference  to  the  charming  portrait  by  Miss 
Smirke,  which  I  have  had  engraved  and  placed  at  the 
beginning  of  this  volume.  This  portrait,  of  which  Miss 
Catherine  Aiken,  her  great-niece,  allowed  me  to  have  a 
copy,  hangs  in  Mrs.  Le  Breton's  house  at  Hampstead ; 
and  having  carefully  studied  the  original  picture  I  can 
assure  the  reader  of  the  excellence  of  the  engraving. 
The  portrait  was  clone  by  Miss  Smirke,  daughter  of 
Eobert  Smirke,  R.  A.,  and  is  in  pencil.  It  is  perhaps 
twice  as  large  as  the  engraving,  and  has  an  extraor- 
dinary delicacy  of  touch  and  finish,  well  suited  to  the 
character  of  the  subject  and  the  refined,  beautiful  fea- 


336  LIFE   OF   MRS.    BARBAULD.  [Chap.  XII. 

tures  and  expression  of  Mrs.  Barbauld.  Mrs.  Le  Breton 
possesses  also  a  pencil. sketch  simply  done  in  outline  by 
her  father,  Charles  Bochemont  Aikin,  Esq.  This  was 
evidently  very  good,  and  like  his  aunt  in  feature, 
though,  of  course,  there  are  no  details  of  shade  to  com- 
plete the  effect  and  give  character  to  the  expression. 
In  the  Exhibition  of  Deceased  Masters  of  the  British 
and  Foreign  School,  held  a  year  or  "more  since  in  Lon- 
don, there  was  a  portrait  by  George  Bomney,  —  whose 
fame,  never  small,  has  greatly  increased  of  late,  till  he 
is  considered  second  only  to  Sir  Joshua  Beynolds  in  his 
style  of  painting.  This  portrait  purported  to  be  one  of 
Mrs.  Barbauld,  and  it  is  not  impossible  that  it  should 
have  been  the  work  of  Bomney,  who  was  a  native  of 
Dalton  in  Lancashire,  and  as  Warrington  is  in  that 
county  he  might  have  known  Mrs.  Barbauld  and 
sketched  her.  It  is  a  beautiful  portrait,  and  her  family 
desired  to  buy  it ;  but  as  no  authentic  information  was 
possessed  by  them  of  such  a  painting  having  ever  been 
done  of  Mrs.  Barbauld,  nor  were  they  able  to  obtain 
any  as  to  its  history  from  its  owners,  they  could  not 
feel  certain  that  it  was  a  portrait  of  their  aunt. 

I  have  touched  upon  Mrs.  Barbauld' s  position  as  a  poet 
and  prose  writer,  and  noted  the  varied  powers  of  mind, 
the  genius,  the  elegance,  the  learning  and  study,  she  dis- 
played. I  have  placed  before  the  reader  the  simple,  yet 
it  is  to  be  hoped  not  uninteresting,  study  of  the  events 


152-5.]  HEB   NOBLE    C'/.lLITIES. 


o  o  i 


of  her  career,  the  social  and  literary  claims  she  has  upon 
the  attention  and  regard  of  the  present  generation,  and 
the  merits  of  her  title  to  an  enduring  and  elevated  place 
in  English  literature.  The  great  mass  of  books  written 
now  renders  it  almost  impossible  for  the  ordinary  reader 
to    study  even    the  ?  a  which  are   : 

classic,  as  Mrs.  Barbauld  should  be  justly   : 
But  she  has  other  claims  to  the  admiration  and  I 
regard  which  the  world  owes  her.  her  rank  as  a 

writer.  Mrs.  Barbauld  was  a  thinker,  a  student,  a  lover 
of  progress  and  humanity,  and  a  noble,  true-hearted 
woman,  who  did  a  genuine*  and  active  work.  She  was 
a  true  friend,  an  affect  n  I  tender 

wife.     Mind  and  heart  formed  a  rare  union  and  - 
balanced   her   character.      She    was    g       rned   in   her 
views  by  reason,  and  her  enthusiasm,  though  not  want- 
ing,   was   restrained   by    common-sense    and   pra;: 
judgment.      Her  heart  was   warm,  full   of   love  and 
sympathy  for  all  mankind;  but  the  expansion  of  her 
interest  did  not  make  her  overlook  the  claims    .:  :'. 
around  her,  and  her  duties  to  her  own  little  circle.     In 
"the  little,  nameless,  unremembered  acts  of  kind:::;- 
and  of  love"  she  was  most  charming  and  attractive ; 
as  the  author  and  poet  she  was  respected  and  admired ; 
but  as  a  woman,  a  friend,  and  a  relation,  she  was  be1 
loved  and  revered.     Her  greatest  oppoDents  could  not 
find  anything  to  say  against  her  her  hone-:y. 

15  v 


338  LIFE   OF  MRS.   BARBAULD.  [Chap.  XII. 

or  her  character.  They  might  scorn  her  opinions, 
doubt  her  judgment,  differ  with  her  in  her  conclusions ; 
but  malice  and  envy  found  no  mark  in  her  pure  and 
simple  integrity  of  purpose,  her  open  and  free  expres- 
sions of  the  love  of  religion,  humanity,  and  progress 
which  formed  part  of  her  character  and  influenced  her 
career. 

Mrs.  Barbauld  exhibited  in  her  life  her  principles 
and  convictions.  She  was  liberal  in  her  religious 
views,  and  tolerant  in  her  estimate  of  others.  A  lover 
of  liberty,  she  desired  it  for  all,  and  used  her  influence 
and  her  best  efforts  to  secure  justice,  religious  freedom, 
and.  liberty  for  all  men.  She  was  one  of  the  earliest 
opponents  of  slavery  in  England,  and  made  her  voice 
of  protest  heard  when  the  question  was  agitated  by 
Mr.  Wilberforce,  that  the  boast  might  be  true,  which 
was  made,  that  the  laws  of  England  knew  no  slavery. 
She  had  "  the  generous  shame," 

"  The  unconquerable  mind,  and  Freedom's  holy  flame," 

which  Gray  describes  as  attending  the  love  and  pro- 
gress of  poetry.  Mrs.  Barbauld  was  one  of  the  great 
minds  which  belong  to  all  time  for  their  catholic 
spirit,  their  enlightened  faith,  their  love  of  freedom,  their 
hope  for  humanity,  their  communion  with  nature,  and 
their  appreciation  of  truth  and  beauty  in  human  life 
and  the  great  possibilities  for  the  future  of  the  world 


1825.]  THE   SPIRIT   OF   HER  LIFE.  339 

which  characterize  them.  Born  in  a  station  of  life 
which  opened  to  her  very  limited  opportunities  for 
greatness,  she  has  left  an  indelible  impress  upon  the 
literature  of  winch  her  works  form  a  very  small  por- 
tion ;  but  the  spirit  which  animated  her  writings,  — 
that  lives,  and  will  continue  to  have  its  influence.     Her 

" .  .  .  .  life  has  flowed 
From  its  mysterious  urn  a  sacred  stream, 
In  whose  calm  depth  the  beautiful  and  pure 
Alone  are  mirror'd  ;  which,  though  shapes  of  ill 
May  hover  round  its  surface,  glides  in  light, 
And  takes  no  shadow  from  them." 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Aberdeen,  University  of,  8. 
Academy  at  Kibworth,  7. 
Academy  at  Northampton,  7,  8. .. 
Academy  at  Warrington,  5,  18-20, 

29-33,  55,  111,  112. 
Academy  proposed  to  Miss  Aikin,  56. 
Adams,  Mr.  John,  117. 
Addison,  11,  247. 
Address  to  Mrs.  Priestley,  28. 
Address  to  Mr.  William  Turner,  37, 

38. 
Address  to  the   Corsicans,   45-49, 

208,  326. 
Address  to  the  Deity,  35,  36,  326. 
Address  to  the  Opposers  of  the  Re- 
peal of  the  Corporation  and  Test 
Acts,  52,  53,  186. 
Advertisement  to  Early  Lessons,  86. 
Aghrim,  Lord,  113. 
Aikin,  Anna  L^etitia, 

Birth,  7. 

Parentage,  7,  12. 

First  studies,  12. 

Precocity,  12,  13. 

Anecdote  by  Mrs.  Cappe,  13. 

Domestic  education,  14. 

Early  impressions,  15,  16. 

Classical  education,  16,  17. 

Removal  to  Warrington,  18. 

Life  there,  26-29. 

Her  Address  to  Mrs.  Priestley, 
28. 

Extract  from  letter,  29. 

Her  Ode  to  Wisdom,  29. 

Admiration  expressed  by  A.  H. 
Rowan,  32. 


Aikin,  A.  L.  (continued). 

Takes  silhouettes,  33. 

Writes  Mouse's  Petition,  33. 

Visits  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Priestley, 
33-38. 

Writes  Address  to  the  Deity,  35, 
36. 

Her  character  of  Dr.  Priestley, 
36. 

Poem  addressed  to  William  Tur- 
ner, 37,  38. 

Letters,  39,  40. 

Poems  printed,  44,  45. 

Extracts  from  Corsica,  45  -  49. 

Groans  of  the  Tankard,  49. 

Miscellaneous  Pieces  published, 
50. 

Fox's  praise  of  them,  51. 

Her  imitation  of  Dr.  Johnson, 

51,  52. 

The  Vision  of  Anna  published, 

52,  53. 

Her  marriage  to  Mr.  Barbauld, 

54. 
See  Barbauld. 
Aikin,    Arthur,    243,    244,    259, 

319. 
Aikin,  Charles  Rochemont,  85,  86, 
249,  299,  300,  310,  317,  319,  335, 
336. 
Aikin,  Edmund,  296. 
Aikin,  John,  M.  D. 

His  Memoir,  2, 14,  21,  23.     & 
Settles  at  Warrington,  42. 
His  character,  42. 
Prints  his  sister's  poems,  44. 


344 


INDEX. 


Aikin,  John,  M.  D.  (continued). 
Publishes  Miscellaneous  Pieces 

with  his  sister,  50,  86. 
Essay  printed,  92.       fc 
Removal  to  Yarmouth,  111,  112, 
117,  121,  124,  131,  141,  165, 
169,  176. 
Address  to  Mrs.  Barbauld,  125. 
Sonnet  to  her,  183,  184. 
Character  of  Dr.  Johnson,  196, 

200,  201. 
Visits  Dorking,  214,  215. 
On  sugar,  222,  223. 
His  character  by  Mrs.  Barbauld, 

229. 
He  visits  Kibworth,  233,  234. 
Removal    to    Newington,  .237, 

238. 
Address  to  his  sister,  238,  239, 

243,  253,  281,  301,  329,  335. 
Death,  309. 

A  couplet  by  him,  315. 
Aikin,  Miss  Lucy,  1,  2,  13,  27-29, 
36,  45,  50,  64,  66,  96-99,  111,  112, 
201,  204,  221,  229,  231,  232,  244, 
247,  250,  253,  257-260,  274,  275, 
295,  296,  305,  317,  318,  323,  324, 
327,  328,  332,  335. 
Aikin,  Mrs.  C.  R.,  249,  308. 
Aikin,  Rev.  John,  D.  D.,  4. 

Assistant  of  Dr.  Doddridge,  8. 
Character  of  him  by  G.  Wake- 
field, 8,  9. 
Settles  at  Kibworth,  8,  9. 
Anecdote  of  him,  13,  14. 
Teaches  his  daughter,  17. 
Removal  to  Warrington,  18. 
Classical  tutor,  20. 
Theological  tutor,  20,  25. 
Letter  to  him  from  Mr.  Seddon, 
25,  26. 
Aix,  111-113,  141,  142. 
Akenside,  173,  206. 
An    Inquiry    into  those    Kinds   of 
Distress  which  excite   Agreeable 
Sensations,  51. 
Animal  Magnetism,  142. 


Annual  Review,  243,  244. 
Anti-saccharists,  222,  223. 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  251. 

Baillie,  Miss  Agnes,  231. 
Baillie,  Miss  Joaxna,  5,  230-232. 
Barbauld,  Anna  L^etitia. 
Academy  buildings,  23,  24. 
Meets  Mr.  Barbauld,  55. 
Answers  the  proposal  for  Young 

Ladies'  College,  56  -  59,  60,  61. 
Visits  London,  62. 
Sees  Strawberry  Hill,  62.    • 
School  at  Palgrave,  62,  64. 
Scholars,  64,  65. 
Studies,  65,  66. 
Her  own  account  of  school  life, 

70,  71,  73. 
Dr.  Johnson's  remarks,  73,  74. 
Devotional  Pieces  printed,  74. 
Her  contemporaries,  75  -  81. 
Meets  Miss  More,  81. 
Visited  by  her,  81. 
Adopts    her    nephew,    Charles 

Aikin,  85. 
Early  Lessons  printed,  86. 
Comments  on  Autumn,  a  Frag- 
ment, by  Horace  Walpole,  88. 
Prose  Hymns  written,  97  -  99. 
Visits  London,  102. 
Mrs.  Montague's  new  house,  102, 

103. 
Visit  to  Norwich,  105-107. 
Addressed  by  Miss  More  in  her 

poem  Sensibility,  109-111. 
Address  to  Dr.  Enfield,  112, 113. 
Vacations,  113. 
Visit  to  London,  113,  114. 
Meets  Miss  Burney,  116,  117. 
Leaves  Palgrave,  121. 
Sails  from  Dover,  121. 
Returns  to  England,  165. 
Removal  to  Hampstead,  172. 
Life  there,  176,  177. 
Takes  a  pupil,  177. 
Poem    on    French    Revolution, 

182. 


INDEX. 


345 


Barbauld,  A.  L.  {continued). 

Address  to  the  Opposers  of  the 

Repeal  of  the  Corporation  and 

Test  Acts,  186.  * 
Poetical  Epistle  to  "William  Wil- 

berforce,  1SS-191. 
Remarks  of  H.  Walpole  on  it, 

192,  193. 
She  -writes  Reply  to  G.  Wake- 
field's Inquiry,  200,  201. 
Writes  Discourses,  201. 
Pieces  for  Evenings  at  Home, 

201. 
She  visits  Scotland,  201-204. 
Writes  Essays  on  Akenside  and 

Collins,  206. 
Meets  Paoli,  203. 
Visits  Bristol,  212,  213. 
Visits  Dorking,  214,  215. 
Visits  Madame  D'Arblav,  215. 
Visits  Clifton,  220-222. 
The  Edgeworths,  220  -  222. 
Letter  to  Miss  More,  223. 
Characters,  229. 
Address  to  Dr.  Priestley,  230. 
Miss  Joanna  Baillie's  Call,  231, 

232. 
Visits  Isle  of  Wight,  235. 
Removal   to  Xewington  Green, 

237. 
Anxiety    about   Mr.    Barbauld. 

240. 
Contributes  Critique  to  Annual 

Review,  244. 
Selection  from  Spectator,  etc., 

with  Essay,  246  -  248. 
Compared  to  Addison,  247,  248. 
Mr.  Robinson's  introduction  to 

her,  248-250. 
Wordsworth's  remarks  on  her, 

250,  251. 
She  writes  Life  of  Richardson, 

254-256. 
Meeting  with  the   Frenchman, 

255,  256. 
Life  at  Xewington,  257,  258. 
Visit  to  London,  258. 

15* 


Barbauld,  A.  L.  {continued). 
Death  of  Mr.  Barbauld,  26L 
His  character  by  his  wife,  262- 

264. 
Dirge,  264. 
Edits  Collection  of  British  Nov- 

elists,  with  Essay,  266. 
Edits  Enfield  Speaker,  269. 
Mrs.   Barbauld  writes  Eighteen 

Hundred   and   Eleven,    272- 

274. 
Review  of  it,  274-279. 
Attack  on  her  by  Coleridge,  281, 

2S2. 
Death  of  her  brother,  309. 
Her  character  of  Mrs.   Tavlor, 

310,  311. 
Her  own  declining  years,  312- 

315,  317. 
She  dies,  317. 
Her  character  bv  Lucy  Aikin, 

317,  318. 
Inscription  on  monument,  320. 
Reminiscence  by  Mr.  Martineau, 

320,  321. 
Her  Legacy,  322. 
Her  Criticisms,  322,  323. 
Her  Hymns,  324. 
Her  Poems,  325-329. 
Unpublished  Poems,  327,  328. 
Her  position  as  a  writer,  329- 

332. 
Her  personal  appearance,  333, 

334. 
Portraits  of  Mrs.  Barbauld,  333- 

336. 
Her  claims  to  notice  and  respect, 

336-338. 
Conclusion,  338,  339. 
Barbauld,  Mr.  Rochemoxt. 
His  descent,  54. 
His  parents,  54. 
Birth,  55. 
Early  years,  55. 
Marries  A.  L.  Aikin,  55. 
Settles  at  Palgrave,  55. 
Resigns  his  parish,  121. 


346 


INDEX. 


Barbauld,  Mr.  R.  (continued). 

Continental  visit,  122. 

Returns  to  England,  165. 

Called  to  Hampstead,  172. 

Chapel,  179,  201. 

Visits  Dorking,  214,  215,  231. 

Becomes  pastor  of  Newington 
Green  Chapel,  237,  239,  240. 

Peculiarities  of    character   and 
appearance,  249,  250. 

His  death,  261. 

Tribute  to  him  by  Mrs.   Bar- 
bauld, 262-264. 
Bathurst,  Bishop  of  Norwich,  106. 
Becher,  Mr.,  301. 
Beddoes,  Dr.,  212,  213. 
Beecroft,  Mrs.,  196,  201,  208,  279, 

290,  302. 
Belinda,  265. 

Belsham,  Miss,  29,  40.     See  Ken- 
rick. 
Benecke,  Mr.  and  Mrs.,  253. 
Bent,  Captain,  202. 
Berkeley,  Bishop,  277. 
Berry,  Miss,  192,  193. 
Birmingham  riots,  20,  208. 
Bishop  of  Landaff  s  Address,  21. 
Bookham,  215. 

Boscawen,  Mrs.,  77,  78,  109. 
Bos  well,  James,  45,  73,  196. 
Branghtons,  116. 
Bristol,  212. 

Brougham,  Lord,  323,  324. 
Brown's  Amusements,  etc.,  11. 
Bryanton,  Mr.,  202. 
Burger,  204. 
Burke,  Hon.  Edmund,  77,  79,  116, 

179,  187,  193. 
Burney,  Dr.,  73. 
Burney,  Miss.     See  D'Arblay. 
Burns,  168. 

Burrows,  Mr.,  117,  215. 
Byron,  Lord,  301,  302,  321,  323. 

Calamy,  Dr.,  176. 
Cappe,  Mr.,  13. 
Cappe,  Mrs.,  13. 


Carr,  Mrs.,  209,  212,  296. 

Carter,  Miss  Elizabeth,  79. 

Cecilia,  116. 

Channing,  Dr.,  36,  229,  309. 

Chapone,  Mrs.,  117. 

Chapter  of  Modern  Apocrypha,  52,  53. 

Charles  II.,  176,  186. 

Christian  Miscellany,  52. 

Christian  Reformer,  The,  52. 

Clifton,  220. 

Coleridge,  S.  T.,  5,  281,  282. 

Collected  Poems,  Mrs.  Barbauld,  208. 

Collection  of  British  Novelists,  266. 

Colliers,  301,  308. 

Collins,  William,  206. 

Contarine,  Rev.  Thomas,  203. 

Corsica,  45-49,  326. 

Cowper,  William,  114,  322,  323, 

325. 
Croker,  John  Wilson,  52. 
Crown  and  Anchor  Tavern,  192, 193. 
Curran,  James,  32. 

Daer,  Basil,  Lord,  113. 
D'Arblay,  Madame,  79,  80,  215- 

218. 
Darwin,  Dr.,  212,  322,  323. 
Davy,  Sir  Humphry,  213,  227. 
Day,  Thomas,  329. 
Declaration  of  Indulgence,  9. 
Delany,  Mrs.,  79. 
De  Morveau,  M.,  130,  131. 
Denman,  Thomas,  Lord,  96, 97, 113. 
De  Rohan,  Cardinal,  162. 
Deserted  Village,  203,  328. 
De  Stael,  Madame,  284,  291. 
Devonshire,  Duchess  of,  119. 
Devotional  Pieces,  74. 
Diamond  Necklace,  162. 
Dissenters,  9  - 12,  251. 
Dissenting  Academy,  251. 
Dixon,  Miss,  88.     See  Beecroft. 
Doddridge,  Dr.,  4,  7,  8,  13. 
Dorking,  214,  215. 
Dover,  122. 
Dryden,  John,  326. 
Dyce,  Mr.,  251. 


INDEX. 


347 


Early  Lessons,  73,  99,  329. 
Edgeworth,  Miss  Anna,  212. 
Edgeworth,  Miss  Maria,  212,  220- 

222,  258,  265,  284,  291,  302,  319, 

329. 
Edgeworth,  R.  L.,  212,  220-222, 

284. 
Edinburgh,  204. 
Eighteen  Hundred  and  Eleven,  272  - 

274,  326. 
Eldon,  Lord,  107. 
Enfield,  Dr.,  21,  24,  105. 
Enfield  Speaker,  269. 
Epistle  to  William  Wilberforce,  179, 

188,  192,  326. 
Estlin,  Dr.,  21,  212,  213. 
Estlin,   Mrs.,  253,  260,  287,  295, 

297,  306,  313,  323. 
Etruria,  24. 
Evelina,  116. 

Evenings  at  Home,  43,  201. 
Exhibition  of  Deceased  Masters,  336. 

Faraday,  Professor,  227. 

Farr,  Dr.,  21. 

Farrar,  Mrs.,  299,  300. 

Ferrier,  Dr.,  22. 

Finch,  Miss,  301. 

Flask  Walk,  255. 

Fletcher,  Miss,  291. 

Fletcher,  Mrs.,  285,  290,  291,  298. 

Foliage,  173. 

Fordyce,  Dr.,  41,  42. 

Fox,  Charles  James,  51,  119,  187, 

256. 
French  Emigrants,  206,  207. 
French  Protestants,  251. 
French  Revolution,  182,  183, 193. 

Gell,  Sir  William,  64,  97, 113. 

General  Biographical  Dictionary,  42. 

Geneva,  126. 

Gentleman's  Magazine,  274. 

George  II.,  54. 

George  III.,  80. 

Gibbon,  E.,  30,  31,  34. 

Gibson,  Dr.,  22. 


Godwin,  William,  115. 
Goldsmith,  Dr.,  202,  203,  328. 
Grandison,  Sir  Charles,  254,  331. 
Gray,  Thomas,  338. 
Groans  of  the  Tankard,  49. 

Hackney,  176. 

Hammond,  Miss,  300. 

Hampstead,  172,  173,  176,  177. 

Harlowe,  Clarissa,  255. 

Hastings,  Warren,  179. 

Hawkins,  Sir  John,  11. 

Hayley,  William,  323. 

Heryey,  Lord,  186,  187. 

Highlands,  202,  203. 

Historical  Society  Cheshire  and  Lan- 
cashire, 23. 

Hoadly,  Dr.,  186, 187. 

Hoare,  Mrs.,  335. 

Holcroft,  T.,  115. 

Holland,  203. 

Holland,  Sir  Henry,  213,  252, 253, 
265. 

Howard,  John,  5,  22,  141, 142. 

Howitt,  William,  239. 

Hunt,  Leigh,  173. 

Huxley,  Professor,  227. 


Jennings,  Miss,  7. 
Jennings,  Rev.  John,  7. 
Johnson,  Dr.,  6,  11,  45,  76,  77, 195, 

196. 
Johnson,  Joseph,  44, 114, 115. 

Kemble,  Mr.,  232. 

Kenrick,  Mrs.,  227,  230,  305-307. 

Kibworth,  7,  8,  233,  234. 

Kinder,  Mrs.,  309. 

Kitcat  Club,  255. 

Lalla  Rookh,  323. 
Lamb,  Charles,  5,  281,  308. 
Lamb,  Mary,  308. 
Lamotte,  Madame,  162. 
Le  Breton,  Mrs.,  333,  335. 


348 


INDEX. 


Leeds,  28,  33. 

Leguet,  Mademoiselle,  162. 

Letters  of  Mrs.  Barbauld. 

To  Dr.  Aikin,  62, 63,  67  -  69 ;  72, 
73-75;  81-85;  87,  88;  92- 
94;  99,  100;  100-102;  115, 
116;  117,118;  119,  120;  123, 
124;  127-130;  131-133;  133- 
138;  143-146;  151-154;  154- 
158;  162-164;  165-167;  177- 
179;  198-200. 

To  Mrs.  Beecroft  (Miss  Dixon), 
89,90;  90-92;  94,  95;  147- 
151;  167,168;  180,  181;  184, 
185;  197,  198;  204-206;  207, 
208;  240,241;  242,243;  257; 
280,281;  286';  289,  290;  302; 
313,  314. 

To  Mrs.  Carr,  210,  211;  232, 
233;  235,236;  308,309. 

To  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Estlin,  224,  225 ; 
287,  288;  288,289;  294,  295; 
295,296;  307;  313;  315-317. 

To  Mrs.  Fletcher,  291-293;  293, 
294;  305,  306. 

To  Miss  P ,  271,  272. 

To  Mrs.  Kenrick(Miss  Belsham), 
40-42;  49,50;  138-141;  225- 
227;  230;  232;  269,270. 

To  Miss  More,  107-109;  219, 
220. 

To  Mrs.  Smith,  241,  242;  258, 
259. 

To  Mrs.  Taylor,  122;  158-161 ; 
266-269;  282,283;  304. 

To   Miss  Taylor  (Mrs.   Reeve), 
244-246. 
Levden,  203. 
Lichfield,  106. 
Life,  250,  251. 
London,  62, 102, 172. 

Macaulat,  Lord,  9-12,  179,  194, 

253. 
Macaulay,  Mrs.,  193. 
Mackintosh,  Sir  James,  5, 123,  321, 

322. 


Magdalen  College,  30,  31. 

Mallet,  Mr.  ,  274. 

Malthus,  21. 

Manchester  New  College,  22. 

Martineau,   Professor  Russell, 

22,  23. 

Martineau,  Rev.  James,  D.  D. ,  22, 

23,  320,  321,  328. 
Mason,  Rev.  "William,  88. 
Medical  Memoir,  42. 
Meteyard,  Miss,  3. 
Miscellaneous  Pieces,  51. 
Montague,  Mrs.  Elizabeth,  5,  56, 

75-78,102,103,116,286. 
Montgomery,  James,  281. 
Monthly  Magazine,  43,  214,  215. 
Monthly  Repository  of  Theology  and 

General  Literature,  261. 
More,  Lord,  113. 
More,  Miss  Hannah,  3,  5, 76-81, 86, 

102, 109-111, 192,  223,  279,  280. 
Mouse's  Petition,  33. 
Murch,  Mr.,  204. 

Ode  to  Wisdom,  29. 

Odes  of  Collins,  206. 

Oldenburgh,  Duchess  of,  291. 

On  Inconsistency  in  Our  Expecta- 
tions, 51,  253,  254,  322,  330. 

On  the  Prospect  of  planting  Arts  and 
Learning  in  America,  277. 

On  Romances,  52. 

On  Monastic  Institutions,  51. 

Opif;,  Mrs.,  105. 

Ossory,  Countess  of,  63. 

Oude,  Begums  of,  179. 

Oxford,  30,  31. 

Palgrave,  55,  62,  64, 121. 
Paoli,  General,  47,  208. 
Paris,  161,  162. 
Peabody,  W.  O.  B.,  324. 
Peel,  Sir  Robert,  187. 
Percival,  Dr.,  21. 
Percy,  102. 

Philanthropus,  R.  Frank,  203. 
Phillips,  Mrs.,  215. 


INDEX. 


349 


Phipps,  Hon.  Augustus,  113. 

Piozzr,  Mrs.,  74. 

Pope,  237. 

Porter,  Miss  Jane,  281. 

Portland,  Duchfss  of,  79. 

Practical  Education,  221. 

Price,  Dr.,  176,  196,  197,  237,  239, 

240,  319. 
Priestley,  Dr.  Joseph,  5,  19,  20, 

24,  25,  27,  28,  33-36,  176,  179, 

196,  227-229. 
Priestley,  Mrs.,  5,  27,  28. 
Prior,  79. 
Prose"  Hymns,  97-  99,  329,  330. 

Quarterly  Renew,  274-279. 

Recollections  of  Seventy  Years,  299, 

300. 
Reynolds,  Sir  Joshua,  116,  336. 
Richardson,  Samuel,  254-256, 330, 

331. 
Rigby,  Misses,  29,  329. 
Robinson,  Mr.  H.  C.,  5,  177,  218, 

248-254,  266,  280-282,284,308, 

314,  315,  322,  323. 
Rogers,  Mr.  Samuel,  5,  51,  218, 

219,    255,    256,    259,    260,    319, 

321. 
Romney,  George,  336. 
Roscoe,  William,  5,  22,  275,  276, 

281,  323. 
Rowan,  A.  H.,  32. 
Royal  Institution,  227. 
Rumford,  Count,  227. 

Sacred  Dramas,  109. 

Sadler,  Dr.,  177. 

Salisbury,  Bishop  of,  186, 187. 

Sayers,  Dr.,  64,  65,  105, 106, 113. 

School  for  Scandal,  102. 

Scotland,  201-204. 

Scott,  Sir  Walter,  5, 204, 244, 266, 

295,  296. 
Seddon,  Mr.,  23-26. 
Selama,  51. 
Selkirk,  Earl  of,  113. 


Sensibility,  109-111. 

Ser  Bertrand,  51. 

Seward,  Miss  Anna,  251. 

Shelley,  P.  B.,278. 

Shenstone,  William,  169. 

Sheridan,  R.'B.,  102,  116. 

Siddons,  Mrs.,  232,  284. 

Silhouettes,  33. 

Smirke,  Miss,  325. 

Smirke,  R.,  325. 

Smith,  Dr.  Adam,  30. 

Smith,  Miss  C,  251. 

Society  of  Arts,  259,  325. 

Southey,  Robert,  274-279,  325. 

Spectator,  11,  321. 

Stewart,  Dugald,  5,  169,  204. 

Strawberry  Hill,  61,  62. 

Surrey,  214,  215. 

Swift,  Dean,  79. 

Talbot,  Miss,  79. 
Talleyrand,  Perigord,  162. 
Taylor,  Dr.  John,  20,  21. 
Taylor,  Miss,  244. 
Taylor,  Mrs.  John,  158,  260,  305, 

310,  311. 
Taylor,  William,  64,  Q5}  106,  113, 

204,  296. 
Taylors,  105. 
Tempest,  92. 

Templetown,  Lord,  113. 
Test  Act.     See  Corporation,  etc. 
Turner,  Mr.,  35-38. 
Turner,  William,  35,  37,  38,  253, 

276,  277,  327,  328. 
Tyndall,  Professor,  227. 

Vaughan,  Mr.  B.,  229. 
Vaughan,  Mrs.,  229. 
Vesey,  Hon.  A.,  77. 
Vesey,  Mrs.,  77,  78. 
Vision  of  Anna,  etc. ,  52,  53. 
Volney,  278. 

Wakefield,  Gilbert,  8,  9,  20,  21, 

176,  200,  201,  249,  308. 
Wakefield,  Miss,  249. 


350 


INDEX. 


Walpole,  Hon.  Horace,  61,  62, 

88,192-194,  278. 
Walpole,  Sir  Robert,  186. 
Warrington,  21]- 26,  44. 
Watts,  Dr.,  6. 
Wedgwood,  John,  21,  24. 
Wedgwood,  Josiah,  3,  24. 
Wedgwood,  Thomas,  213. 
West,  Lady  Mary, '44. 


White,  H.  K.,  278.' 
Wilberforce,  William,  179,  188, 

192. 
Williams,  H.  M.,  193,  251. 
Williams,  Miss,  76. 
Willoughby,  Lord,  of  Parham,  18. 
Wingates,  12. 
Wordsworth,  William,  5, 15,  250- 

252,  281,  323. 


THE  END. 


Cambridge  :  Electrotyped  and  Printed  by  Welch,  Bigelow,  &  Co. 


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